Short answer. Destierro is a penalty of banishment, not confinement. A person sentenced to destierro stays free but is barred from entering a place named in the sentence, and from coming within a radius the court fixes — no less than 25 and no more than 250 kilometres from that place.
What the law says
Any person sentenced to destierro shall not be permitted to enter the place or places designated in the sentence, nor within the radius therein specified, which shall be not more than 250 and not less than 25 kilometers from the place designated.
Revised Penal Code, Article 87 — Destierro Defined. Read the full provision →
Banishment, not a jail term
This is what makes destierro unusual. The convict is not committed to any prison, guarded, or held anywhere. He goes on living, working and travelling as he pleases — everywhere except the excluded zone. Article 87 of the Revised Penal Code fixes the outer limits of that zone: the radius must be at least 25 kilometres and cannot exceed 250 kilometres from the place named in the sentence. The judge sets the actual figure and identifies the place or places, which in practice are the offended party's residence and its surroundings. The point of the penalty is separation from particular people and places, not deprivation of liberty as such.
Where it is imposed
Destierro appears in a small number of situations in the Revised Penal Code. It is best known as the consequence for a spouse who kills or injures the other spouse and the paramour after catching them in the act, and it also serves as the penalty in certain cases where confinement would be pointless or where the law regards the offender as deserving separation rather than imprisonment. It can additionally be used as a substitute penalty in narrow circumstances the Code itself specifies. It is a correctional penalty, so it carries a duration and, like other penalties, is served for the period the sentence states.
What happens if the convict comes back
The prohibition is real, not symbolic. Entering the forbidden place or crossing back inside the radius during the term of the sentence is an evasion of service of sentence, which the Revised Penal Code punishes as a separate offence. So a person who treats destierro as a technicality can end up with an actual prison term he would never otherwise have faced. Because the penalty leaves the convict at large, courts and law enforcement rely on the offended party and the community to report breaches, and complaints of that kind are taken seriously.
Practical consequences people overlook
A destierro sentence can uproot a household. If the excluded radius covers the convict's home, his workplace or his children's school, he must move, and the sentence does not pause for hardship. It is still a criminal conviction, with the record and the disqualifications that follow, and civil liability to the offended party runs alongside it. The radius and the designated place are set in the judgment itself, so if you are facing a charge that carries this penalty, what the sentence says matters enormously. This is general legal information, not advice on a particular case, and no lawyer can promise a result. To have a pending case reviewed, you can book a consultation.