Va. Code » Title 18.2. Crimes and Offenses Generally » Chapter 10. Crimes Against the Administration of Justice » Article 7. Escape of, Communications with and Deliveries to Prisoners
Virginia Code

Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-478 (2026)

Escape from jail or custody by force or violence without setting fire to jail; penalty

✓ current as of May 2026
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If any person lawfully imprisoned in jail and not tried or sentenced on a criminal offense escapes from jail by force or violence, other than by setting fire thereto, or if any person lawfully in the custody of any law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 18.2-57, on a charge of criminal offense escapes from such custody by force or violence, he is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

Code 1950, § 18.1-289; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1985, c. 555; 2025, cc. 38, 41.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 23 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1980–2021 · leading case: Coles v. Commonwealth, 605 S.E.2d 784 (Va. Ct. App. 2004).
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Coles v. Commonwealth, 605 S.E.2d 784 (Va. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 28× “Corey Dion Coles appeals his conviction under Code § 18.2-478 for escape by force from the custody of a police officer.”
Henry v. Commonwealth, 462 S.E.2d 578 (Va. Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 44× “2-460, respectively, appeals a subsequent circuit court conviction of escaping from a police officer in violation of Code § 18.2-478. Henry argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of escape, and that his misdemeanor convictions in general district court bar on…”
Hubbard v. Com., 661 S.E.2d 464 (Va. 2008). · cites it 24× “In this appeal, we consider whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for felonious escape from custody, in violation of Code § 18.2-478, when there was no written criminal complaint or formal accusation against the person who escaped from custody.”
Hall v. Com., 701 S.E.2d 68 (Va. 2010). · cites it 22× “The defendant, Antoine Lanier Hall, was convicted in a bench trial in the Circuit Court for the City of Danville for escape "by force or violence" in violation of Code § 18.2-478. To be guilty of felonious escape from custody under that statute, the Commonwealth must prove…”
Johnson v. Commonwealth, 462 S.E.2d 125 (Va. Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 34× “Troy Nathaniel Johnson was convicted by a jury of malicious wounding of a law enforcement officer and escape in violation of Code § 18.2-478. Johnson contends that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence an unredacted bench warrant which disclosed that he had been…”
Thomas v. Commonwealth, 690 S.E.2d 298 (Va. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 16× “In Hubbard , the defendant appealed his conviction for felonious escape from custody, in violation of Code § 18.2-478, arguing that the Commonwealth failed to prove that he was in custody “on a charge of criminal offense.”
Hall v. Commonwealth, 686 S.E.2d 554 (Va. Ct. App. 2009). · cites it 6× “INTRODUCTION Code § 18.2-478 reads in relevant part: “[I]f any person lawfully in the custody of any police officer .”
Keland Oneal Shelton, s/k/a Keland O'Neal Shelton v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 781 S.E.2d 750 (Va. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 4× “2-57(0 and escape from custody by force or violence in violation of Code § 18.2-478. The trial court sentenced appellant to a total of ten years in prison, with eight years and one month suspended.”
Bowling v. Commonwealth, 654 S.E.2d 354 (Va. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “2d 784, 788 (2004) (comparing the term “on a charge of criminal offense” in Code § 18.2-478 with the concept of probable cause).”
William Morva v. David Zook, 821 F.3d 517 (4th Cir. 2016). “See Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-478 . Recall that, when he escaped and committed the capital offenses, Morva was in jail awaiting trial on pending charges for, inter alia, armed robbery.”
Hobson v. Ew Murray, 485 F. Supp. 1340 (E.D. Va. 1980). · cites it 10× “1978) 1 rather than as a misdemeanor escape under Va.Code § 18.2-478 (Repl.Vol. 1975). 2 The State trial judge convicted and sentenced the petitioner under the felony escape statute, overruling petitioner’s timely motion to strike the evidence.”
Isiah David Joseph v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 768 S.E.2d 256 (Va. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 2× “2d 578, 580 (1995) (ruling that the defendant escaped within the meaning of Code § 18.2-478 by striking an officer and fleeing from the officer who was holding him at gunpoint); Schlimme v.”
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