(b) Escape from Prison.—If the sentence was unjust, it is lawful to escape, unless the means employed are intrinsically evil (e.g., killing of guards), or the results will be more harmful than continuance in prison (e.g., the overthrow of public order, the too great risk of the attempt to escape). If the sentence was just, there are various opinions on the lawfulness of flight. Some think it is never lawful, because a just sentence is a precept of authority and should be obeyed; others think that flight is lawful in grave cases (e.g., when the prisoner has been sentenced to death or to life imprisonment, or when the conditions of prison life are unbearable, because human law cannot impose as a normal regulation what is too difficult for human nature); still others think that flight is always lawful, because the court sentence is that the prisoner be forcibly confined, not that he remain in prison voluntarily. But one is not necessarily bound to escape (see 1857).
(c) Resistance to Sentence.—If the sentence is unjust, resistance is not unlawful _per se_, because one has the right of self-defense against unjust aggression (Ezech. xxii. 27). Hence, if one were condemned to execute oneself (e.g., by taking poison), the common opinion is that the sentence would be unjust (see 1856), and therefore not obligatory. If the sentence is just, even though it be a capital sentence, resistance is not lawful, for the judge who duly pronounces sentence on a guilty man has the right to obedience (Rom., xiii. 1-5).
1983. Jail-Breaking and Restitution.—If one does not sin by jail-breaking, is one bound to restitution for the damages connected with the escape?
(a) If the damages are not caused by, but only follow accidentally on the flight (e.g., escape of other prisoners, dismissal of guards), there is no obligation to make restitution for them; for the flight would not be the efficacious or the unjust cause of such damages.
(b) If the damages result from the flight as from their efficacious and unjust cause, there is an obligation of restitution (see 1763), as when a prisoner, in order to escape, does needless damage, or damage out of all proportion to the evil from which he seeks to escape. But ordinary property damage, such as a hole cut in a wall, does not seem unjust, if there is no other way to get out.
1984. Reliability of Witnesses and Testimony.—A witness in court is a person who declares during a judicial proceeding that he knows some statement, deed or omission in reference to the matters at issue. The testimony of witnesses has proving force only in so far as these persons appear to have knowledge of the matters on which they testify and appear to be truthful. Hence, certain kinds of witnesses and certain kinds of testimony are unreliable.
(a) Thus, a witness is unreliable either through his own fault (e.g., if he is regarded in his community as below the standard in truthfulness, or has the reputation of being a calumniator) or without his own fault (e.g., if his powers of observation or his memory are subnormal, or he is devoted or hostile to or dependent on one of the contending parties). It is a duty, indeed, to presume good of a person in whom the opposite does not appear, if he is the only one whose interests are concerned; but when there is danger to a third party, one must be on one’s guard (see 1744). Hence, St. John admonishes not to believe every spirit (I John, iv. 1).
(b) Testimony is unreliable because of the number of the witnesses (e.g., one witness is often legally insufficient to prove, especially in graver matters), or the quality of their evidence (e.g., because in substantial points a witness contradicts himself or is contradicted by his co-witnesses, or because there are signs of collusion or conspiracy), or the counter-evidence of the opposition.
1985. Obligation of Freely Appearing as a Witness.—(a) There is an obligation of commutative justice to offer testimony, if one is under contract to do this, as when one is hired as a detective or agent to gather evidence against lawbreakers.
(b) There is an obligation of legal justice to testify, even at the cost of serious inconvenience, if the testimony is necessary for averting a serious evil that threatens the common welfare. A person who knows of a plot against the peace of the State should bring this to the notice of the authorities, even at the risk of his life. But a person who knows that a crime has been committed, is not bound to give witness about it, if the escape of its author will not be a serious detriment to public or private welfare (e.g., if one knows that an apparent case of suicide was really a homicide committed by accident).