A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to make it a criminal offense to break out of a juvenile detention facility or youth development center.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑256 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14‑256.  Prison breach and escape from county or municipal confinement facilities or officers; breach and escape from juvenile detention facility or youth development center.
(a)	If any person shall break any prison, jail or lockup maintained by any county or municipality in North Carolina, being lawfully confined therein, or shall escape from the lawful custody of any superintendent, guard or officer of such prison, jail or lockup, he shall be guilty of a Class A1 misdemeanor, except that the person is guilty of a Class H felony if:
(1)	He has been convicted of a felony and has been committed to the facility pending transfer to the State prison system; or
(2)	He is serving a sentence imposed upon conviction of a felony.
(b)	If any person shall break any juvenile detention facility or youth development center maintained by any county or municipality in North Carolina or by the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, or shall escape from the lawful custody of any superintendent, guard, officer, or employee of the facility or center, the person is guilty of a Class A1 misdemeanor."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2005, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.