Cite as: 507 U. S. 234 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
That ensuring enforceability is not the sole rationale for fugitive dismissals is also evident from our review of state provisions regarding escaped prisoners' pending appeals. In Allen v. Georgia, 166 U. S. 138 (1897), we upheld not only a state court's dismissal of a fugitive's appeal, but also its refusal to reinstate the appeal after the defendant's recapture, when enforceability would no longer be at issue. We followed Allen in Estelle v. Dorrough, 420 U. S. 534 (1975), upholding the constitutionality of a Texas statute providing for automatic appellate dismissal when a defendant escapes during the pendency of his appeal, unless the defendant voluntarily returns within 10 days. Although the defendant in Estelle had been recaptured before his appeal was considered and dismissed, resolving any enforceability problems, there were, we held, other reasons for dismissal. Referring to our own dismissal in Molinaro, we found that the state statute served "similar ends . . . . It discourages the felony of escape and encourages voluntary surrenders. It promotes the efficient, dignified operation of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals." 420 U. S., at 537 (footnotes omitted).
Estelle went on to consider whether the Texas statute was irrational because it applied only to prisoners with appeals pending when they fled custody. Citing the "peculiar problems posed by escape of a prisoner during the ongoing appellate process," id., at 542, n. 11, we concluded that it was not. The distinct concerns implicated by an escape pending appeal justified a special rule for such appeals:
"Texas was free to deal more severely with those who simultaneously invoked the appellate process and escaped from its custody than with those who first escaped from its custody, returned, and then invoked the appellate process within the time permitted by law. While each class of prisoners sought to escape, the first did so in the very midst of their invocation of the appellate process, while the latter did so before returning to custody and commencing that process. If Texas is free to
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