---
type: "LegalText"
title: "18 U.S.C. § 1120"
description: "Murder by escaped prisoners"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
chapter_number: "51"
chapter_name: "HOMICIDE"
section: "1120"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 1120"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s1120"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml"
source_hash: "9897ac8b9dfc239afeaefa635e929d5d6927dc88bfd34d82284b14751846f4ee"
raw_snapshot_hash: "1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708"
text_hash: "77868d7cf46588bb74db1e42ce70599ff003e87394e979702999c67e2ddf7e20"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 18 U.S.C. § 1120 - Murder by escaped prisoners

## Text

(a) Definition.— In this section, “Federal correctional institution” and “term of life imprisonment” have the meanings stated in section 1118.

(b) Offense and Penalty.— A person, having escaped from a Federal correctional institution where the person was confined under a sentence for a term of life imprisonment, kills another shall be punished as provided in sections 1111 and 1112.

(Added Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60012(a), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1973; amended Pub. L. 104–294, title VI, § 601(c)(2), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3499.)

## Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments1996—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 104–294 substituted “Federal correctional institution” for “Federal prison”.