This week, Governor Doug Ducey signed into law a bill that toughens penalties for inmates who escape from a correctional facility. HB 2790, legislation sponsored by Rep. David Cook, increases from a class 5 felony to a class 4 felony, escaping from an adult correctional facility.
“I’m grateful to Governor Ducey for signing HB 2790. Prison escapes in Arizona are thankfully rare,” said Cook. “However, when one occurs, it places the safety of our communities, and our law enforcement officers, at great risk. The consequence for such criminal action should be high.”
HB 2790 classifies knowingly escaping from an adult correctional facility as an escape in the first degree with a penalty of a Class 4 felony. It also requires a sentence for a first-degree escape conviction to be served consecutively to the sentence that the inmate was serving at the time of their escape.