On
Delivery of Prisoners from Jail

ART.156.

Delivery of prisoners from jails.-The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period of prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed. upon any person who shall remove from any jail or penal establishment any person confined therein or shall help the escape of such person, by means of violence, intimidation, or bribery. If other means are used, the penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed.

If the escape of the prisoner shall take place outside of said establishments by taking the guards by surprise, the same penalties shall be imposed in their minimum period.

ELEMENTS:
1. That there is a person confined in a jail or penal establishment;
2. That the offender removes therefrom such person, or helps the escape of such person.

NOTES:

Prisoner may be detention prisoner or one sentenced by virtue of a final judgment.

Escapee, if already serving final judgment, will in turn be held liable for evasion of sentence (Art. 157).

If merely detention prisoner he is not criminally liable.

The offender is an outsider to the jail. If the offender is a public officer or a private person who has custody of the prisoner and who helps a prisoner under his custody, Arts. 223 (infidelity in the custody of a prisoner) and 225 (escape of prisoner under custody of private person) will apply, respectively.

This felony may also be committed through imprudence or negligence.

Circumstance qualifying: use of violence, intimidation or bribery.

Mitigating circumstance: if it takes place outside the penal establishment by taking the guards by surprise.

In relation to infidelity in the custody of prisoners, correlate the crime of delivering person from jail with infidelity in the custody of prisoners punished under Articles 223, 224 and 225 of the Revised Penal Code.

In both acts, the offender may be a public officer or a private citizen. Do not think that infidelity in the custody of prisoners can only be committed by a public officer and delivering persons from jail can only be committed by private person. Both crimes may be committed by public officers as well as private persons.

The only point of distinction between the two crimes lies in whether the offender is the custodian of the prisoner or not at the time the prisoner was made to escape.

If the prisoner who escapes is only a detention prisoner, he does not incur liability from escaping if he does not know of the plan to remove him from jail.

But if such prisoner knows of the plot to remove him from jail and cooperates therein by escaping, he himself becomes liable for delivering prisoners from jail as a principal by
indispensable cooperation.

If three persons are involved – a stranger, the custodian, and the prisoner, three crimes are committed:
(1)Infidelity in the custody of prisoners;
(2)Delivery of the prisoner from jail; and
(3)Evasion of service of sentence.

Bar Exam Question (2002)

Art 156; Delivery of Prisoners from Jail (2002)

A, a detention prisoner, was taken to a hospital for emergency medical treatment. His followers, all of whom were armed, went to the hospital to take him away or help him escape. The prison guards, seeing that they were outnumbered and that resistance would endanger the lives of other patients, deckled to allow the prisoner to be taken by his followers. What crime, if any, was committed by A's followers? Why? 

Suggested Answer:

A's followers shall be liable as principals in the crime of delivery of prisoner from Jail (Art. 156, Revised Penal Code). The felony is committed not only by removing from any jail or penal establishment any person confined therein but also by helping in the escape of such person outside of said establishments by means of violence, intimidation, bribery, or any other means.