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Comment by kh2ouija | Hacker News Reader

Reminds me of how trying to escape from prison is not illegal in certain countries.

Logically I can't see why trying to escape from prison would be an offence in itself anyway. If somebody successfully did it they wouldn't have undertaken the punishment for the original crime though, so you'd send them back to prison for that, and wouldn't give them any time off for good behaviour

I don't know if that's quite the same though. Assuming a just legal system (maybe that's a stretch) one is in jail as a consequence for their own actions. Therefore being in jail is of their own doing and the right thing to do is to accept their punishment for their actions. Being poor is not always a consequence of one's own actions or always within one's control.

Can you say in which countries?

In Belgium it isn't. What is often the case, though, is that you commit other crimes while escaping prison (stealing government property, violence or threats on guards, etc.) for which you're accountable.

Civilized countries. Germany, for example.

The law argues that one cannot punish a person for loving freedom, even though the same law has put him behind bars.

Civilized countries? Nice insult you got there, not very civilized of you though.

Germany, for example. Any crimes you commit (damage to the prison, theft of inmate clothing, ...) while fleeing will be added to your sentence if caught, though

So far, I can think of Germany and Mexico.

The act of escape itself is legal in Germany. Other acts committed during escape, such as destruction of property are of course not, so in practice it is probably rare for a caught escapee not to receive additional punishment.

From memory I think Germany is one of those countries.

It's not what some people imagine, though: when you break out of jail you will still be wanted for your original crime, and when caught have to continue your sentence. And while the act of breaking out isn't punishable by itself, theft, property damage, assault etc committed in order to break out is still punishable.

The human desire to be free is acknowledged and not punished, but that doesn't interfere with the punishment of crimes.

Is the act of avoiding the authorities while being a wanted fugitive not illegal in Germany?

Why would it be, it's not like fugitives will report to the police because of some law.

But the better you avoid authorities the worse the prison you get sent to. High security prisons are typically much less pleasant than low security prisons.

Well, in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with it is quite illegal to avoid authorities while being a wanted fugitive.

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