Commonwealth v. Porter

This case presents a question not previously addressed by the Supreme Judicial Court or this court about the scope of the statute which punishes an escape or an attempted escape by “[a] prisoner of any penal institution.” G. L. c. 268, § 16. In particular, we are asked to determine whether a person serving a house of correction sentence, which was ordered to be served on weekends, see G. L. c. 279, § 6A, 2 who fails to report by 6:00 p.m. on a particular weekend, as required by the terms of his sentence, has “escaped” within the meaning of § 16 because he “fail[ed] to return from any…