List of longest prison sentences served

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of longest prison sentences served by a single person, worldwide, without a period of freedom followed by a second conviction. These cases rarely coincide with the longest prison sentences given, because some countries have laws that do not allow sentences without parole or for convicts to remain in prison beyond a given number of years (regardless of their original conviction).

More than 70 years

  Indicates cases where imprisonment is still ongoing.

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Charles Foussard 1903 1974 70 years, 303 days  Australia Homeless French Australian confined in the J Ward mental asylum in Ararat, Victoria, after murdering an elderly man and stealing his boots. Died while still incarcerated at the age of 92, making this the longest-served prison sentence in the world with a definite end.[1]
Francis Clifford Smith June 7, 1950 July 8, 2020 70 years, 31 days  United States Longest-serving prison inmate in the United States. Sentenced to death for the murder of a nightwatchman during a robbery at a yacht club in July 1949, his sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1954, only two hours before his scheduled execution.[2] Smith was imprisoned in the Osborn Correctional Institution, but was paroled and moved to a nursing home in July 2020.[3][4][5][6][7]

60–69 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Walter H. Bourque Jr. December 10, 1955 January 10, 2025 69 years, 31 days  United States Second-longest-serving prison inmate in the United States. Sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for the 1955 axe murder of a four-year-old girl, committed when he was 17 years old.[8][9] He died while in custody in 2025.[10][disputed – discuss]
Paul Geidel Jr. September 5, 1911 May 7, 1980 68 years, 245 days  United States Sentenced to 20 years to life and incarcerated from 1911, aged 17, for robbery and murder. He was nearing parole for good behavior, but was then found insane in 1926 and transferred to Dannemora State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he was confined until 1972. He was finally released in 1980 at 86. He died in a nursing home in 1987, aged 93.
John Phillips July 17, 1952 March 9, 2021 68 years, 236 days Convicted for the rape of a five-year-old girl.[11] According to the North Carolina DOC, he was released on March 9, 2021, on parole. His parole ended on March 8, 2026.[12]
Kenneth Nicely December 23, 1958 ongoing 67 years, 128 days  United States Longest-serving inmate in Arkansas. Convicted of killing a police officer. Also convicted of killing a car salesman in Kentucky.[13] Spent six years as a free man after not returning from a furlough in 1968 before being recaptured in 1974.[14]
Joseph Ligon December 18, 1953 February 11, 2021 67 years, 54 days  United States The oldest juvenile lifer in the US, Ligon at age 15 was sentenced to life without parole for murder, a mandatory sentence at the time.[15] Ligon first rejected a resentencing and parole offer in 2016.[16] Ligon was again resentenced in 2017 and immediately eligible for parole but refused it, pending his appeal. Ligon contends that he should be resentenced to "time served" and released, so he can cut all ties to the justice system.

On February 11, 2021, Ligon was released from prison at the age of 83.[15][17] He spoke to the BBC World Service about his life in May 2021.[18]

Johnson Van Dyke Grigsby 1908 1974 66 years, 123 days After killing a man in a bar fight, he was sentenced to life in prison for murder and was denied parole 69 times before he was released at age 89. Returned to prison voluntarily, citing difficulty finding a job, but left again in 1976. Died in 1987, aged 101.[19]
Sammie Robinson September 26, 1953 December 20, 2019 66 years, 85 days Spent 66 years in prison in Louisiana, beginning when he was 17 and ending with his death at 83.[20]
Warren Nutter February 10, 1956 December 8, 2021 65 years, 9 months, 28 days Youngest man ever sentenced to death in Iowa, when he was 18 years old, for the murder of a patrolman during a gas station robbery.[21] Sentence commuted to life in prison in 1957.[22] He died in the hospice room of the Iowa State Penitentiary in December 2021, aged 84.[23]
William Heirens 1946 2012 65 years, 181 days Known as the "Lipstick Killer". Reputed to be the longest-surviving prisoner in Chicago. Died in prison.
Catherine Antonovna of Brunswick December 6, 1741 April 9, 1807 65 years, 4 months, 3 days  Russia Imprisoned as a baby when her brother, Emperor Ivan VI of Russia was overthrown by Elizabeth of Russia. Released to Denmark in 1780 on the condition that she would continue under house arrest until her death.
 Denmark
Clarence Marshall 1950 2015 64 years, 70 days  United States Longest-serving prisoner in Michigan. Sentenced to life in prison on one count of armed robbery and another of unarmed assault "with intent to rob and steal". He was paroled in 2015.[24][25]
Richard Honeck 1899 1963 64 years, 44 days Aged 20, Honeck was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a former school friend. He was paroled after 63 years and one month. He died in 1976, aged 97.
Howard Christensen 1937 2001 64 years Sentenced to life without parole for the murder of a teacher in 1937, when he was 16, along with a 17-year-old accomplice who hanged himself in prison in 1943. His sentence was commuted to 200 years in the mid-1970s. He was paroled in 2001 and died in 2003, aged 82.[26]
Charles Edret Ford 1952 2016 Longest-serving prisoner in Maryland. Ford, a black man, was convicted of murder by an all-white jury in 1952, when he was 19. He was granted retrial in 2015, citing an unconstitutional trial and continued ineffective assistance of counsel who failed to inform him of his right to appeal. He was released to a nursing home.[27]
Oliver Terpening 1947 2010 63 years, 125 days When he was 16, Terpening shot a 14-year-old school friend and the boy's three sisters, aged 16, 12, and 2. Prosecutors theorized that Terpening wanted to rape the oldest and that he killed the others when they surprised him, while Terpening claimed that he only wanted to know how it felt to kill somebody, and that he had found the experience disappointing. Died in prison.[28]
Michael Anthony Mayola November 15, 1962 ongoing 63 years, 166 days  United States Longest-serving prisoner in Alabama. Sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of an 11-year-old boy, and was last denied parole in 2021.[29]
Diego de Castilla 1371[30] 1434[31] 63 years  Castile Illegitimate son of Peter I of Castile, imprisoned as a child in Peñafiel and Curiel castles by his uncle Henry II, and released by his uncle's great-grandson, John II. Died in 1440, aged 75.[30]
"Old Bill" Wallace 1926 1989  Australia Imprisoned for shooting a man in an argument over a cigarette in a Melbourne cafe. Died a month before his 108th birthday, while incarcerated in J Ward. Listed in Guinness World Records as the oldest prisoner in world history.[32]
Robert Kenneth Hammond April 16, 1963 January 14, 2026 62 years, 273 days  United States In 1963, Hammond, then an 18-year-old soldier AWOL from Fort Knox, shot, robbed and ran over 59-year-old William Edwards — an Omaha cabdriver. Hammond pleaded guilty to second degree murder and received a life sentence.[33][34]
Hugh Alderman 1917 1980 62 years, 192 days Longest-serving prisoner in Florida. Escaped twice in 1919 and 1924. Moved to a mental hospital in 1927, where he died in 1980, aged 86.[35][failed verification]
James Gostlin November 5, 1963 ongoing 62 years, 176 days  United States Convicted of the murder of 11-year-old Shirley Husted. He also attacked Husted's father with a hammer and allegedly tried to kidnap and rape her mother. He was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. On January 30, 2026, Gostlin, who was granted a resentencing hearing since he was 20 at the time of the murder, was resentenced to life in prison without parole.[36]
Thomas Bean July 22, 1963[37] March 17, 2025 61 years, 238 days  United States Longest-serving prisoner in Nevada history. Convicted of the rape and murder of Sonja McCaskie at the age of 18 and sentenced to death. His death sentence was commuted to life without parole in 1970.[38] Bean died in prison in 2025 at the age of 80.[37]
Leon Tice September 27, 1963 January 30, 2025 61 years, 125 days Last man sentenced to death in Iowa. Sentence commuted to life in prison in 1965, a month before the abolition of capital punishment. Sentenced to death for a shooting rampage that killed Judy Ellen Jackson, 13, and Randall Curtis Burtness, 2, and wounded the boy's grandmother, 45, and half-brother, 7, in June 1963.[39]
James R. Moore December 7, 1963 April 30, 2024 60 years, 145 days Pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to "natural life." Also confessed to the sexual assault of dozens of other young girls.[40][41] Last parole application rejected in 2019.[42] He was granted parole in May 2022 and was scheduled to be released on or around June 6, 2022.[43] However, as he was unable to provide a suitable residence upon his release, Moore was never paroled. He died in prison in 2024.[44]
Booker T. Hillery November 1, 1962[45][failed verification][46][47] January 16, 2023 60 years, 76 days Longest-served prisoner in California history. Accused of stabbing and killing 15-year-old Marlene Miller with scissors in the small town of Hanford. Originally sentenced to death for murder but changed to life in prison in the 1970s. Appealed, was retried and found guilty again in 1986. Died in prison at the age of 91.[48]
Howard Unruh September 6, 1949 October 19, 2009 60 years, 43 days Mass murderer who killed 13 people and injured three in Camden, New Jersey. Recluded in a mental hospital without trial or conviction until he died aged 88.
Clifford Hampton 1959 2019 60 years Longest-serving juvenile lifer in Louisiana. Resentenced due to Montgomery v. Louisiana and paroled in April 2019.[49]

50–59 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Ruchell Magee Late 1963 July 28, 2023 59 years and 8+ months  United States Convicted in 1963 of kidnapping and robbery in an incident with his cousin that court records say involved a loaded gun, a moving car that had been reported stolen, and a $10 marijuana deal. Because of a prior attempted rape conviction (for which he had been imprisoned between 1955 and 1962), Magee was sentenced to life imprisonment. Involvement in the Marin County Civic Center courthouse attacks led to a second life sentence for aggravated kidnapping. He received compassionate release shortly before his death.
Raymond L. Shuman June 13, 1958 February 3, 2018 59 years, 7 months, 20 days Second longest-serving prisoner in Nevada. Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the robbery and murder of two men while he and his partner (who was the one that pulled the trigger) were AWOL from the US Navy. Set another prisoner on fire in 1973 due to a dispute about leaving a window open. Died in prison in 2018.[50]
Robert Brim (AKA Robert Mertz) 1958 January 7, 2018 59 years, 2 months Killed a pregnant woman and her 3-year-old daughter, and wounded her 4-year-old son, during a shooting spree in South Dakota. Jurors convicted Brim of manslaughter since they did not want him to be executed.[51][52] He died in prison.[53]
James Earl Hinton January 26, 1967 ongoing 59 years, 94 days  United States Hinton is serving life without parole for the 1966 stabbing death of Pickens County, Alabama cab driver Zach Rufus Collins. Initially, Hinton was sentenced to death, but the Alabama Supreme Court ordered a new trial.[54]
Larry Ranes October 23, 1964 November 12, 2023 59 years, 20 days  United States Serial killer sentenced to life without parole for the murder of Gary Smock. He was also the brother of fellow serial killer Danny Ranes. He died in prison on November 12, 2023.[55]
Alfred Tai May 15, 1964 March 26, 2023 59 years, 11 days Pleaded guilty to murdering two police officers in Hawaii in 1963. Died in prison in Arizona in 2023.[56]
Harvey Stewart 1951 1957 59 years Longest-serving prisoner in Texas at the time of his third parole in 2011. He was convicted the first and third time for robbery, and the second time for murder.[57][58][26]
1958 1984
1986 2011
Hans-Georg Neumann 1963 2022  West Berlin Abducted and shot a young couple at a lovers' lane. Longest-serving prisoner in Germany and European Union. On March 17, 2021, the Oberlandesgericht Karlsruhe ordered his release on parole at an undisclosed future date, with preparations for reintegration to begin immediately.[59]

Neumann was paroled in 2021, and died in 2022.[60]

 Germany
Chester Weger April 4, 1961 February 21, 2020 58 years, 323 days  United States Convicted for the murder of a woman in Starved Rock State Park in 1960. Granted parole November 21, 2019, though he was not released until February 21, 2020.[61] He died on June 22, 2025.[62]
Michael Herrington July 8, 1967 ongoing 58 years, 296 days  United States Second-longest-serving inmate in Wisconsin. Sentenced in 1967 for two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.[63][64]
Terry Caspersen September 17, 1964 May 23, 2023 58 years, 248 days  United States Longest-serving inmate in Wisconsin. Sentenced in 1964 for the stabbing of an 18-year-old woman who survived the initial attack but died of her injuries two days later. He was up for parole in July 2021 but was denied.[63][65] Caspersen died in May 2023.[66]
Edward Albert Seibold September 20, 1967 ongoing 58 years, 222 days  United States Seibold is serving multiple life sentences for the slayings of three girls and the injury of a mother in Lee County, Alabama in 1967.[54]
Robert Mone January 23, 1968 58 years, 97 days  United Kingdom In 1967 he shot a teacher at his old school, and in 1976 he and another man escaped from the State Hospital, Carstairs, killing three people in the process.[67]
Emmett James Paramore April 11, 1968 58 years, 19 days  United States As part of a group who attempted to steal goods from a delivery van, he shot and killed a bakery truck salesman.[68][69]
Thomas Fuller 1968 58 years, 2 days Shot and killed five children in Coles County, Illinois.[70][71]
Jesse Pomeroy December 1874 September 29, 1932 57 years, 9 months  United States Teenage serial killer nicknamed "The Boy Fiend", who tortured nine younger children and killed two in Boston, Massachusetts. Sentenced to death when he was 15 years old, this was changed to life in solitary confinement after two consecutive governors refused to sign his death warrant. The solitary confinement was lifted in 1917, and he died in 1932, still in prison.
John Mikulovsky June 15, 1968 57 years, 319 days  United States Murdered his parents in December 1967.[72]
Henry Montgomery February 1964 November 17, 2021 57 years, 263 days  United States Shot and killed a police officer in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the age of 17. He was sentenced to death but in 1966, the Louisiana Supreme Court annulled the verdict after finding he had not received a fair trial due to public prejudice. In 1969, he was again convicted of murder, which triggered an automatic sentence of life without parole. In 2016, his life sentence was vacated and he was remanded for resentencing. He was denied parole twice but was finally granted parole and released on November 17, 2021.[73][74][75]
John David Smith July 12, 1968 ongoing 57 years, 292 days  United States Convicted of the murder of William Straight.[76][77]
Robert Benjamin Smith November 12, 1966 April 21, 2024 57 years, 162 days  United States Perpetrator of the 1966 Rose-Mar College of Beauty shooting, where he murdered 6 people and injured 2 others. Died in prison in 2024.
Roy Anderson November 1, 1967 March 10, 2025 57 years, 3 months  United Kingdom Anderson killed a 20 year old woman whilst on holiday in Torquay. He was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He died in hospital in March 2025.[78]
Nobuo Oda[79] December 14, 1968 ongoing 57 years, 137 days  Japan One of two perpetrators of the 1966 Maruyo Wireless Incident. Oda, a 20-year-old employee at the Maruyo radio station at the time of the crime, was found guilty and sentenced to death for beating two other employees with a hammer, robbing the place, and setting a fire that killed one of the employees. He is the prisoner longest held in death row in the world.
Clyde Johnson 1969 ongoing 57 years, 75 days  United States Fatally shot a man at a party after a night of drinking in 1968. At a commutation hearing in 2021, Johnson alleged that the victim had called him a racial slur and reached for a gun.[80]
Lester Pearson 1964 October 2021 57 years  United States Convicted of murder in Louisiana and sentenced to life in prison with chance of parole after 10 years and 6 months due to a guilty plea agreement; however, Louisiana banned parole for all defendants who plead guilty to serious crimes before 1973 due to changes in state laws which prevented him from getting a chance of parole until he was resentenced and released in October 2021.[81][82][83][84]
Wyman Hall 1897 1954 Hall was jailed in 1897 for the murder of a constable. He was paroled in 1954 at the age of 81 and was, at the time, the longest-serving inmate in Illinois as well as the oldest.[85]
Sirhan Sirhan 1969 ongoing 57 years, 13 days  United States Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy. Originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted in 1971 to life in prison. Parole has been denied 15 times. On August 27, 2021, Sirhan was recommended parole by a California parole board. Prosecutors declined to participate or to oppose his release under a policy by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.[86] On January 13, 2022, California governor Gavin Newsom reversed the decision, stating that Sirhan had "not developed the accountability and insight required to support his safe release" and refused to accept responsibility for his crime.[87]
Charles Ronald Martin May 9, 1969 56 years Convicted of two murders.[88]
Joe Carr 1941 1997 56 years  United States Longest-serving prisoner in Kansas. Convicted of murder for strangling a newborn and tossing his body in the Arkansas river. Carr refused to apply for parole until he was released, aged 79.[89]
Sheldry Topp 1963 February 2019 Oldest juvenile lifer in Michigan. He was originally sentenced to life without parole for a murder he committed at age 17 in 1962 but his sentence was later lowered to 40 to 60 years due to Montgomery v. Louisiana because of his age at the time of the crime. He was also given 10 years' worth of good behavior credits which allowed him to be released in February 2019 without having to go through a parole hearing.[90][91]
George Yutaka Shimabuku 1964 2020 Shimabuku was convicted of three killings, including one in prison. He was transferred to Arizona from Hawaii and died in December 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.[92]
William Holly Griffith 1915 1971 55 years, 359 days Longest-serving prisoner in West Virginia, known as "the bestial killer" and the "leading bad man" in the state. Sentenced to life for murdering the police chief[93] who was going to arrest him and a constable[94] during his escape to Ohio, where he was arrested. Tried to flee prison several times, the last one when he was already suffering from cancer. Died in prison.[citation needed]
Norman Santiago 1969 ongoing 56 years  United States Serving life without parole for the murder of a police officer in Hawaii.[95][96]
Bobby Beausoleil April 18, 1970 ongoing 56 years, 12 days Member of the Manson Family originally sentenced to death for the murder of Manson's former associate Gary Hinman in 1969. The Family perpetrated the 10050 Cielo Drive and Tate–LaBianca murders in a failed attempt to make police believe that Beausoleil was wrongfully accused. He was recommended for parole in January 2019, but was denied by the Governor of California.
Allen Smith c. December 1953 September 7, 2009 c. 55 years, 8 months  United States A former reform schooler who shot an elderly couple during a robbery north of Newberry, Michigan some days before his 17th birthday. His sentence was commuted for medical reasons in August 2009, only 12 days before his death. He died before he could be released.[28]
Joseph Butler June 30 1970 ongoing 55 years, 304 days  Australia Butler is incarcerated at Wolston Correctional Centre in Queensland for sexual assault against minors. His sentence was subject to an order of indefinite imprisonment which mandates he remain imprisoned At Her Majesty's Pleasure "until the Governor in Council is satisfied on the report of two medical practitioners that it is expedient to release". Butler is considered intellectually disabled and incapable of controlling his pedophilic urges.[97]
John Norman Collins August 19, 1970 55 years, 254 days  United States Suspected serial abductor, rapist, and murderer of seven women in the Ann Arbor–Ypsilanti, Michigan area during the late 1960s, though only convicted of one murder.
Antonio "Tony" Wheat November 1, 1965 November 11, 2020 55 years, 10 days  United States The longest-serving prisoner in Washington state, a US Air Force airman originally sentenced to death for the murders of three gas station attendants during an armed robbery spree with another colleague. His sentence was stayed four days before his scheduled execution on July 11, 1969, then changed to three life sentences after a retrial in 1971. Paroled.[98]
Jerry Lee Duffey September 1970 ongoing 55 years  United States Originally sentenced to 1,000 years in prison for robbing and raping a pregnant woman.[99][100] His sentence was reduced to two life terms on appeal.[101]
András Toma 1945 2000 55 years  Soviet Union Believed to be the last POW of World War II. Toma, a Hungarian soldier, was captured in southern Poland in 1945 and later interned in a mental hospital of rural Kotelnich, in Russia. His documents were lost, and he was listed as KIA by the Hungarian Army. He was returned to Hungary after a Czech linguist realized that he spoke an eastern dialect of the Hungarian language. Died in 2004, aged 79.
 Russia
John Straffen 1952 2007  United Kingdom Multiple child killer. Sentenced to death for his third murder, which took place after he escaped from a mental hospital; the sentence was commuted to life in prison. Longest-serving prisoner in the United Kingdom at the time of his death.
Frank Edward Wetzel[102] 1957 2012  United States Sentenced to two life sentences for the murders of two highway patrolmen when he was driving to Mississippi to break his brother out of death row. His brother was executed two months later. Wetzel maintained his innocence[103] and died of Alzheimer's disease when he was 90 years old, still in prison.[104]
Clarence Shepherd 1965 2020 Shepherd was serving life without parole for separate murders, including the 1965 stabbing and strangulation of a Birmingham woman. He died in prison at the age of 80 due to COVID-19.[54][105]
Patricia Krenwinkel April 28, 1971 ongoing 55 years, 2 days  United States Member of Manson family; longest-serving female prisoner in US penal history.
Earl Perry June 11, 1943 March 23, 1998 54 years, 286 days  United States Convicted of the April 1943 rape and strangulation of Theresa "Chi-Chi" Williams, age 4. Perry, who was 17 when he committed the murder, was sentenced to life in prison on June 11, 1943.[106] He was denied parole in 1958,[107] 1963,[108] 1968[109] and 1974.[110] Died in prison on March 23, 1998.[111][better source needed]
Garold Rheinschmidt August 20, 1960 May 1, 2015 54 years, 267 days Longest-serving prisoner in Wisconsin at the time of his death.[112]
Verdell Miles April 27, 1967 December 14, 2021 54 years, 231 days Inmate in Wisconsin who was sentenced in 1967. Paroled on December 14, 2021.[63][113]
Richard Robles December 1, 1965 May 21, 2020 54 years, 172 days Perpetrator of the Career Girls Murders. He was paroled in May 2020 as per the New York Department of Corrections.[114]
Tex Watson October 21, 1971 ongoing 54 years, 191 days  United States Second-in-command of the Manson Family and leader in the Cielo Drive and Tate–LaBianca murders.
Tony Rawlins December 28, 1955 April 17, 2010 54 years, 110 days  Australia Convicted of the "Kissing Point mutilation murder", strangling a 12-year-old girl who rejected his advances. Was Australia's longest-serving prisoner when he died, with 18 parole applications being rejected.[115]
Willie Gaines Smith 1960 2014 54 years, 105 days  United States Longest-serving prisoner in Kentucky. Rejected parole because no nursing home accepted him and he would receive better medical care in prison but was released on medical parole in 2014. Died at the age of 76 in December 2014.[116]
Arthur Norman Duncan June 3, 1970 August 13, 2024 54 years, 68 days  United Kingdom Convicted of murder and rape in England when he was 18 in 1970, before later being transferred to Scotland. Died in prison at the age of 72.[117]
Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch 1972 ongoing 54 years, 85 days  Argentina Serial killer. Longest-serving prisoner in South America.
James Albert Findley February 1971 54 years  United States Convicted in 1971 of the murder of a 16-year-old, Findley was originally sentenced to death. In 1972, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when the US Supreme Court invalidated the death penalty. He is eligible for parole, with his next hearing in June 2028.[118][119][120]
Louis Mitchell 1967 October 5, 2021 54 years  United States Imprisoned for raping a white woman, a crime which Mitchell said he did not do and has always maintained his innocence about. Sentenced to life in prison and resentenced and released on October 5, 2021.[121][122]
Machal Lalung 1951 2005  India Originally arrested for "causing grievous harm," Lalung was interned in a psychiatric hospital until he was declared "fully fit" in 1967. However, he was mistakenly transferred to prison rather than released, and forgotten about until 2005. He was released without ever being tried or convicted, aged 77.[123]
Robert Stroud 1909 1963  United States Known as "the Birdman of Alcatraz" for the research on bird diseases that he conducted alone in his cell, although he actually did it at Leavenworth Penitentiary before he was moved to the federal prison in Alcatraz Island.
Daniel Wheeler March 1971 April 2025 Originally sentenced to life without parole for murdering his 16-year-old pregnant ex-girlfriend in 1970 when he was 17.[124][125] Resentenced and released in April 2025.[126]
Jerry Lee Hansen May 20, 1965 May 11, 2019 53 years, 356 days Longest-serving prisoner in Nebraska. Jailed for the murder of his parents in law and the attempted murder of his then wife. Disarmed a corrections officer and shot his ex-wife a second time in 1973, paralyzing her for which he received two 20 years to life sentences, he had been eligible for parole since 1977 and had been turned down, time after time. Committed suicide at the age of 82 while in the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.[127][128][129]
Bruce M. Davis April 21, 1972 54 years, 9 days  United States Member of the Manson Family involved in the murders of Hinman and Donald Shea. He was recommended for parole in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2017; every time the sitting Governor ordered a review or reversed the decision.
Michael Wilber Wade October 28, 1966 September 2, 2020 53 years, 311 days  United States When he was 19, he killed a 16-year-old girl he had met that day. The death penalty was a common sentence for murder in Florida at the time, but the jury spared him.[130] Died in prison.[131][132]
Julia Belle Rollins August 2, 1972 ongoing 53 years, 271 days  United States Convicted of murder for shooting a 24-year-old woman in a bar.[133]
George Nassar June 26, 1965 December 3, 2018 53 years, 161 days  United States Convicted of two murders, he was originally sentenced to death in 1965, but in 1966 his sentence was struck down and replaced with life imprisonment. Also known for being the person to whom Albert DeSalvo allegedly confessed to being the Boston Strangler in late 1965.
Edward Arthur Webb October 22, 1963 January 19, 2017 53 years, 89 days  United Kingdom Beat a woman to death with an axe. Died in prison.[134][better source needed]
Harry Hebard October 4, 1968 December 24, 2021 53 years, 81 days  United States Murdered five of his relatives, including three children, in 1963.[135] Died in prison.
Giulio d'Este 1506 1559 53 years Ferrara Illegitimate son of Ercole I d'Este, duke of Ferrara. Organized a failed plot aimed at eliminating his half-brothers duke Alfonso I d'Este and cardinal Ippolito d'Este. Sentenced to death, his penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. Freed by his grandnephew Alfonso II d'Este in 1559 at the age of 81.
Peter Woodcock 1957 2010 52 years, 328 days  Canada Declared not guilty by reason of insanity and recluded in a mental hospital for the murder of three young children. Murdered a fellow patient in 1991. Died in 2010, still interned.
Peter Antonovich of Brunswick March 30, 1745 January 13, 1798 52 years, 289 days  Russia Born in captivity after his brother, Emperor Ivan VI of Russia was overthrown by Elizabeth of Russia. Released in 1780 to Denmark on the condition that he would live under house arrest until his death.
 Denmark
John Veltre Jr September 17, 1973 ongoing 52 years, 225 days  United States Sentenced to life without parole for the murder of two baby girls and the rape of their mother when he was 16.[136]
Edmund Kemper November 8, 1973 52 years, 173 days Serial killer convicted of murdering eight women, including his mother. He was previously institutionalized as a juvenile for murdering his grandparents.
Wayne Coleman January 24, 1974 52 years, 96 days Sentenced to six consecutive terms of life with parole for his role in the Alday family murders.[137][138][139][140][141]
Alfred "Alf" Vincent 1968 February 18, 2021 52 years  New Zealand Man held in preventive prison for the longest time in the world: sentence was imposed for assaulting five boys. Suspected of having molested between 200 and 500 children.[142] He was held in Rimutaka Prison's high-dependency unit due to suffering from dementia and a heart condition.[143] He was released in February 2021.[144]
William MacDonald May 1963 May 12, 2015  Australia English-born serial killer known as "the Sydney Mutilator." Oldest and longest-serving prisoner in New South Wales at the time of his death.
Jimmy Ennis November 9, 1964 2016  Ireland Longest held prisoner in Ireland. Sentenced to life in prison for fatally bludgeoning a farmer in County Cork following a dispute. He had just finished a prison term for attacking a woman with a hatchet.[145] He refused to apply for release until he was freed in 2016, aged 87.[146]
Winston Moseley July 7, 1964 March 28, 2016 51 years, 291 days  United States Murderer of Kitty Genovese. Died in prison.[147]
John Joseph Kenny June 18, 1974 ongoing 51 years, 316 days  Ireland Bludgeoned an elderly woman with a candlestick during a break-in, when he was 19 years old. He has been allowed outside prison several times and returned every single one after breaching the terms of his release.[148]
Elmer Wayne Henley July 16, 1974 51 years, 288 days  United States Accomplice of serial killer Dean Corll in the Houston Mass Murders, found guilty of committing seven of them. The crimes were discovered when Henley shot Corll in self defence.
Staf Van Eyken 1974 51 years  Belgium Convicted for 3 murders.[149][150]
James Ryan O'Neill February 1975 51 years, 88 days  Australia Suspected serial killer serving a life sentence in Tasmania for one murder. Allegations have been made that O'Neill also murdered a number of other children in several Australian states from the mid-1960s whilst he was still a teenager. He is currently Tasmania's longest-serving prisoner for a single offence.
Ian Brady 1966 2017 51 years, 10 days  United Kingdom Perpetrator of the Moors murders together with his girlfriend, Myra Hindley, who died in prison in 2002. Longest-serving prisoner in the United Kingdom at the time of his death.
Zhang Xueliang 1937 1988 51 years  Republic of China Placed under house arrest after having been found guilty of insubordination for his role in the Xi'an Incident. He was taken to Taiwan after the Nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War, where he continued under arrest until the death of Chiang's son Chiang Ching-kuo, and he was released. Died in 2001 at the age of 100.
Walter B. Kelbach 1967 2018  United States Spree killer who murdered five people and raped two women in Utah in December 1966 with his cousin Myron Lance. Kelbach died in August 2018 of natural causes.[151]
Theo H. 1960 2011  Netherlands Involuntarily committed when he was 17 after a sex offense in which the victim was a minor. He relapsed twice while on leave, in 1967 and in 1985. Died in 2018.[152]
Sam Glass 1967 2018  United Kingdom He was ordered to be detained indefinitely in 1967 after he indecently assaulted, stabbed and strangled a five-year-old girl.[153]
David Brault 1969 July 13, 2020  Canada Was convicted in 1969 of the shooting deaths of two men, as well as two sexual assaults and several other offences.[154]
Willie Ingram 1970 2021  United States Convicted of armed robbery and aggravated rape in 1970, he spent 51 years in prison in Louisiana, before being released in 2021.[155]
Earl David Inge April 1975 ongoing 51 years, 29 days  United States Inge had tried to break into a home but was chased off, one of the occupants identifying him as the would be burglar. Two weeks later he returned to the house and shot through a window, killing a man.[156][157] Inge was up for parole in 2020 but was denied.[158][156][159][160] He was last denied parole in 2023.[161]
Carl Macedonio June 12, 1972 April 25, 2023 50 years, 317 days  United States Raped and murdered an 18-year-old woman in New York in 1971. He was sentenced in 1972 to 33 years to life, and was paroled in April 2023.[162]
John McHugh May 1975 ongoing 50 years, 364 days  United Kingdom Jailed for the violent murder of a waiter.[163]
Patrick Mackay November 1, 1975 50 years, 180 days Serial killer who confessed to murdering 11 people in London and Kent from 1974 to 1975. Mackay is currently considered for release after reportedly spending time in an open prison. However, in June 2020, the hearing of the Parole Board was postponed amidst a fresh investigation into Mackay's involvement in unsolved murders.[citation needed]
Allan Baker November 13, 1975 50 years, 168 days  Australia Baker is incarcerated at Clarence Correctional Centre in New South Wales for the murder of Ian Lamb as well as the abduction, rape and torture of Virginia Morse (who he had thereafter murdered across the state border) in November 1973. He was sentenced on 20 June 1974 to life without the possibility of parole.
Bobby Gene Griffin May 27, 1968 June 6, 2018 50 years, 10 days  United States Juvenile lifer in the state of Michigan who at the age of 16 along with three other male teens forced their way into Minnie Peapples' Benton Harbor home seeking money. Griffin beat, stabbed and sexually assaulted Peapples, who bled to death after the teens fled for which Griffin was sentenced to life without parole until he was resentenced on July 10, 2017, to 40 to 60 years and he was paroled on June 6, 2018.[164]
John Weber 1926 1976 50 years Originally an immigrant from Austria-Hungary, Weber was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the fatal shooting of his 18-month old daughter, which he served in Columbus' Ohio Penitentiary. In 1972, Governor John J. Gilligan commuted his sentence to murder in the second degree. This made him eligible for parole, but he never benefited from it. Was the oldest prisoner in the United States at the time of his death, only a few months from his 100th birthday.[165][166]
Hugo Pinell 1965 August 12, 2015[167] Nicaraguan national sentenced to life in prison for rape. Released on August 12, 2015
John Franzese March 1967 June 23, 2017 Italian-American mobster of the Colombo crime family who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for masterminding several bank robberies. He broke parole and was returned to jail six times, the last time when he was 92 years old.[168] At the time of his release at the age of 100, he was the oldest federal prisoner in the United States and the only centenarian ever.
James Ferguson 1969 2019  United Kingdom Serial child rapist who was detained in Carstairs State Hospital for fifty years.[169]
Gloria Williams 1971 January 25, 2022  United States Williams and several others robbed a grocery store with a toy gun and, after a struggle with the store owner, who was armed, someone in her group shot the owner with his own gun.[170] Williams was paroled in January 2022.[171]

Longest spells in solitary confinement

The sentence duration refers to the time spent in solitary confinement, regardless of time spent in normal prison before or after. Death row prisoners, who are usually also held in isolation, are not included.

More than 40 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Walerian Łukasiński 1822 1868 46 years Congress Poland Polish military officer suspected of harboring anti-Russian sentiments, kept in prison even after completing his original sentence of 14 years.
 Russia
Hugo Pinell 1969 2015  United States Murdered by another inmate two weeks after his solitary confinement was lifted.
Mark David Chapman August 24, 1981 ongoing 44 years, 249 days  United States Placed in solitary confinement after pleading guilty to murdering John Lennon on December 8, 1980.
Albert Woodfox 1972 2016 44 years  United States Placed in solitary confinement for the murder of a corrections officer. Released in 2016.
Robert Stroud 1916 1959 42 years Imposed for murdering a prison guard at USP Leavenworth.
Robert Maudsley 1983 ongoing 41 years  United Kingdom Serial killer imprisoned in 1977. Placed in a specially built solitary cell after killing three other prisoners.
Jesse Pomeroy 1875 1917 41 years  United States See above.
Woo Yong-gak 1958 1999  South Korea Captured during a North Korean commando raid after the armistice. Released to North Korea in 2000.
Herman Wallace 1972 2013  United States Placed in solitary confinement for the murder of the same corrections officer as Woodfox. Released in 2013, when he had advanced liver cancer, but re-indicted two days later. Died the next day before he could be arrested.

30–39 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Thomas Silverstein October 22, 1983 May 11, 2019 35 years, 201 days  United States Called "America's most isolated man." Placed in solitary confinement for the murder of two inmates and a guard during a prison riot. Died on May 11, 2019
Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova 1768 1801 33 years  Russia Countess convicted of killing 38 female serfs by beating and torturing them to death. Imprisoned at Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow; for the first 11 years, she was chained in a basement dungeon without a window and only given a candle during meals.[citation needed]
Yolanda Saldívar 1995 ongoing 30 years, 186 days  United States Found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez on March 31, 1995. Placed in solitary confinement after receiving numerous death threats from fellow inmates.

20–29 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Luis Felipe 1997[172] ongoing 29 years, 75 days  United States Leader of the New York chapter of the Latin Kings. Convicted and placed in solitary confinement for ordering several murders when he was already in prison for other offenses.
Man in the Iron Mask 1669? 1675 c. 29 years  France A mysterious prisoner kept in a solitary cell with double doors (to mute conversations) and forced to wear a black velvet mask at all times, following direct orders of Louis XIV. Much debate exists about the identity of the prisoner (variously called Marchioly or Eustache Dauger) and the reason of his confinement. After his death, myths arose claiming that the prisoner wore a full-headed iron mask, rather than velvet, and that two Musketeers of the Guard were posted with orders to shoot him if he removed it. The solitary spell was interrupted between 1675 and 1680, when the man in the mask served the also imprisoned Nicholas Fouquet, Marquis of Belle-Îlle as his valet.
1680 1703
Robert Hillary King 1972 2001 29 years  United States Placed in solitary confinement for the same murder as Woodfox and Wallace, until his original conviction was overturned.
Salvatore "Totò" Riina January 15, 1993 November 17, 2017 24 years, 306 days  Italy Reputed "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian mafia, nicknamed "The Beast". Believed to have ordered over 150 murders in Italy. Died in prison, aged 87.[173][174]
Mary Mallon March 27, 1915 November 11, 1938 23 years, 229 days  United States First known case of asymptomatic carrier of typhoid. Quarantined for life in New York City's North Brother Island after refusing to have her gallblader removed or stop working as a cook.
Ian Manuel 1993 2016 23 years Tried as an adult and sentenced to life for non-fatally shooting a woman during a robbery, when he was 13 years old. His sentence was reduced after it was ruled that imprisoning minors who had not killed anyone for life was unconstitutional. Released.[175][176]
Ivan VI of Russia December 6, 1741 July 16, 1764 22 years, 7 months, 10 days  Russia Overthrown when he was one year old and imprisoned in solitary until he was assassinated at the age of 23, in order to prevent his release.
Frank De Palma February 3, 1992 March 11, 2014 22 years, 36 days  United States Kept in solitary for attacking a guard while serving a 42+ years stay in a Nevada prison for murder and other offenses. Released in 2018.[177]
Leonora Christina Ulfeldt 1663 1685 22 years  Denmark Daughter of Christian IV of Denmark. Confined to a small cell in the Blue Tower of Copenhagen Castle by her brother, Frederick III, accused of treason. Released after 22 years by Christian V, she joined a convent where she died in 1698, aged 76.
Russell Melvin Shoats 1992 2014  United States Member of the Black Unity Council, Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of a police officer. Shoats spent his time in solitary in a 7-by-12 foot cell, always illuminated by lights, for 23 or 24 hours a day.
Anthony Gay 1994 2016 Originally imprisoned in Illinois for stealing a dollar bill and a hat, was added time to his sentence for disciplinary reasons until he served 24 years and almost all in solitary.[178]
Clayton Fountain 1983 2004 21 years Marine sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his staff sergeant in 1974, and placed in solitary after murdering three other prisoners and one corrections officer. Converted to Catholicism and was accepted as a lay brother of the Trappist monks posthumously.
Rudolf Hess October 1, 1966 August 17, 1987 20 years, 320 days  West Berlin (Allied occupation) Deputy Führer of Nazi Germany sentenced to life in prison for "crimes against peace". He was the only remaining prisoner of Spandau Prison after the release of all other inmates, until his suicide at the age of 93.
John T. Downey 1952 1973 20 years, 3 months and 14 days  China CIA agent captured along Richard Fecteau in Manchuria after their plane was shot down by Chinese forces during the Korean War; the mission was part of a failed attempt to establish an anti-Communist guerrilla in mainland China. Released after the thaw of Chinese-American relations. There was a three-week break in their solitary confinement in 1955, when they were allowed to interact with the crew of a downed American B-29.[179]
Giovanni Passannante 1879 1899 20 years  Italy Attempted assassin of Umberto I of Italy. Locked in a dark, small cell below sea level in Portoferraio, Isle of Elba. His conditions became a scandal after they were revealed and he was moved to an asylum in Montelupo Fiorentino, where he died in 1910.

10–19 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Richard Fecteau 1952 1971 19 years  China CIA agent captured along John T. Downey in Manchuria after their plane was shot down by Chinese forces during the Korean War; the mission was part of a failed attempt to establish an anti-Communist guerrilla in mainland China. Released after the thaw of Chinese-American relations. There was a three-week break in their solitary confinement in 1955, when they were allowed to interact with the crew of a downed American B-29.[179]
Viktor Ilyin 1969 1988  Soviet Union Attempted assassin of Leonid Brezhnev. Released in 1990.[citation needed]
Ian Manuel 1990 2008 18 years  United States Convicted of non-fatally shooting a woman in the face during a botched robbery when he was 13 years old. Released from prison in 2016.[180]
Clarence Carnes 1946 1963 17 years Placed in solitary for his part in the "Battle of Alcatraz". The measure ended with the closing of the prison.
Wazir Ali Khan December 1799 May 15, 1817 East India Company British India Former Nawab of Awadh held in an iron cage at Fort William until his death, for leading the Massacre of Benares.
Christopher Scarver 1994 2010 16 years  United States Placed in solitary confinement for the double murder of Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson. All three men were serving life sentences for murder at the time of the crime.
Mahmoud Issa unknown 13 years  Israel Hamas commander convicted for establishing the first cell of the Al-Qassam Brigades in Jerusalem and his own role in the 1994 abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman. He was placed in solitary confinement due to his influence on other prisoners, earning him the nickname "Master of Solitary". Released per the prisoner exchange after the January 2025 Gaza war ceasefire.[181]
Rathakrishnan Ramasamy 1984 1996 12 years  Singapore Placed in solitary confinement for 12 years at Changi Prison for the 1981 murder of Kalingam Mariappan in Singapore. Ramasamy was 16 when he helped his older friend to assault and burn the 45-year-old victim to death. The friend, 22-year-old lorry driver Ramu Annadavascan, was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on 19 September 1986. As he was aged under 18 at the time of the crime, Rathakrishnan was spared the death sentence and instead sentenced to indefinite detention at the President's Pleasure. Rathakrishnan was released in September 2001 after serving 20 years behind bars.[182][183][184]
John Gotti December 11, 1990 June 10, 2002 11 years and 181 days  United States Boss of the Gambino Crime Family, arrested in 1990 and convicted in 1992 to life imprisonment without parole for having murdered his predecessor Paul Castellano in 1985. He died in 2002 at United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri by throat cancer[185]
Mordechai Vanunu 1987 March 12, 1998 11 years  Israel Israel nuclear whistleblower
Abdullah Öcalan February 1999 November 2009 10 years, 9 months  Turkey Leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, sentenced to death for treason and separatism in 1999, commuted to a life sentence after Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002. He was the only inmate of İmralı prison until 2009.
Bernardo Provenzano April 11, 2006 July 13, 2016 10 years and 3 months  Italy Leader of the Sicilian Mafia, convicted to 20 life sentences for having committed 127 murders in Second Mafia War in 1980s, arrested in 2006 after 43 years hiding. He died in 2016 a Milan prison by cancer[186].

Longest spells on death row

These prisoners were sentenced to death rather than prison, but their execution was stalled for a prolonged time due to different reasons.

More than 40 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Nobuo Oda December 14, 1968 ongoing 57 years, 146 days  Japan Murdered two employees at an electronics retail store in Fukuoka. A juvenile accomplice was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. He is both Japan's and the world's longest-serving death row inmate.[187][188]
Shosan Ohama November 20, 1975 50 years, 161 days Murdered a woman and her two daughters in Hiratsuka because of his sensitivity to noise. Withdrew his appeals in 1977, but has never been executed due to concerns about his mental health.[189]
Tommy Zeigler July 16, 1976 49 years, 288 days  United States Quadruple murder of Eunice Zeigler, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and Charlie Mays. He is both Florida's and the USA's longest-serving death row inmate.[190]
Virgil Delano Presnell Jr. October 19, 1976 49 years, 193 days Longest-serving death row inmate in Georgia.[191] Sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl.[192][193]
Henry Perry Sireci November 15, 1976 49 years, 166 days Sentenced to death in Florida for the murder of a used-car dealer in Orlando in 1975 and Sentenced to life for murder 7- Eleven Clerk in 1975[194][195]
Harold Gene Lucas February 9, 1977 49 years, 80 days Sentenced to death in Florida for Murder his former girlfriend in Bonita Springs on 1976[196][197]
James Ernest Hitchcock February 11, 1977 April 30, 2026 49 years, 78 days  United States Sentenced to death in Florida for the 1976 rape and murder his 13-year-old stepniece in Winter Garden. Hitchcock was executed by lethal injection on April 30, 2026.[198]
James Franklin Rose May 13, 1977 ongoing 48 years, 352 days  United States Sentenced to death in Florida for killing the daughter of his ex-girlfriend. In 2018, he was sentenced to life without parole for the rape and murder of a woman in 1975.[199]
Joseph Clarence Smith Jr. August 31, 1977 48 years, 242 days Smith was found guilty of murdering and raping two teenage hitchhikers, 18-year-old Sandy Spencer and 14-year-old Neva Lee, between 1975 and 1976. Currently the longest-serving death row inmate in Arizona.
Harvey Earvin October 26, 1977 48 years, 186 days Longest held prisoner on death row in Texas. Sentenced to death for shooting and killing a service station attendant in 1976.[200][201]
Richard Gerald Jordan March 2, 1977 June 25, 2025 48 years, 115 days  United States Sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of a woman in Mississippi. Jordan was Mississippi's longest-serving death row inmate.[202] He was executed by lethal injection on June 25, 2025.[203][204]
Clarence Curtis Jordan September 12, 1978 April 9, 2026 47 years, 209 days  United States Sentenced for the 1977 murder of a market clerk in Texas.[205] Jordan's death sentence was overturned in 2026 on account of his intellectual disability and schizophrenic condition, and is set to be re-sentenced to a potential life sentence.[206]
William Lee Thompson September 20, 1978 ongoing 47 years, 222 days  United States Sentenced to death in Florida for torture-murder of a woman in the motel in Miami-Dade County on March 1976[207][208]
Earl Lloyd Jackson March 19, 1979 47 years, 42 days Sentenced to death for the murder and robbery of 2 elderly widows in August and September 1977.[209]
Arturo Daniel Aranda May 18, 1979 46 years, 347 days Sentenced for the 1976 murder of a police officer in Texas.[210]
David Ghent October 30, 1979 46 years, 182 days Sentenced to death for the February 1978 rape and murder of an acquaintance.[211]
Paul William Scott December 12, 1979 46 years, 137 days Sentenced to death in Florida for murder James Alessi at Boca Raton on 1978[212]
Iwao Hakamata September 11, 1968 March 27, 2014 45 years, 197 days  Japan Granted a retrial and found innocent after it was determined that the evidence used to convict him the first time was forged.
Bryan Frederick Jennings May 7, 1980 November 13, 2025 45 years, 190 days  United States Jennings was found guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering a six-year-old girl named Rebecca Kunash in 1979 at Merritt Island, Florida. Jennings was first sentenced to death in 1980, before his appeal led to two separate re-trials that all ended with a death sentence in 1982 and 1986 respectively. Executed by lethal injection on November 13, 2025.
Kenneth Darcell Quince October 21, 1980 ongoing 45 years, 191 days  United States Sentenced to death in Florida for the December 1979 rape and murder of Frances Bowdoin, 82 at Daytona Beach[213][214][215]
Charles Kenneth Foster October 4, 1975 December 30, 2020 45 years, 87 days  United States Sentenced to death in Florida for 1975 Fatally stabbed elderly man that he met in bar.[216][217] He died in prison in 2020[218]
Ian Deco Lightbourne May 1, 1981 ongoing 44 years, 364 days  United States Sentenced to death in Florida for the December 1979 rape and murder Nancy O'Farrell at Ocala[219][220][221]
Raymond Riles April 2, 1976 April 14, 2021 45 years, 12 days  United States One of the longest held prisoners on death row in Texas. His execution was stayed several times from 1980 onward for different reasons. He was later diagnosed with mental problems and is considered not mentally fit to be executed. He tried to commit suicide in 1985 by setting his jail cell on fire. His death sentence was thrown out on April 14, 2021.[222] He was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 9, 2021.[223]
Albert Greenwood Brown March 2, 1982 44 years, 59 days  United States Pedophile who abducted and murdered a 15-year-old on her way to school while being on parole for molesting another girl in California. Brown was scheduled for execution on September 30, 2010, but it was put on hold due to lethal injection supplies being unavailable at the time.
Richard Dean Turner 1980 March 23, 2024 44 years  United States Shot and killed a couple during a burglary in California in 1979, whilst under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He died in prison in 2024.[224]
Hiroshi Sakaguchi June 18, 1982 ongoing 43 years, 316 days  Japan United Red Army member who murdered two police officers and an innocent bystander in a shootout with police in 1972
Thomas Eugene Creech January 1, 1983 43 years, 119 days  United States Sentenced to death for killing a fellow prisoner while incarcerated in Idaho 1981. Creech had been previously on death row for another murder, but his death sentence was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 1977 after appeal.
Omar Blanco May 24, 1982 43 years, 341 days Sentenced to death in Florida for murdering John Ryan at Fort Lauderdale on January 14, 1982.[225]
Ronald Allen Smith March 22, 1983 43 years, 39 days Only Canadian on death row in the United States and one of two death row inmates in Montana. Smith, along with another man, murdered two Native American men who offered them a ride while the former were under the influence of LSD. His accomplice accepted a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, while Smith refused and requested capital punishment for himself.
Michael Morales June 30, 1983 42 years, 304 days Raped and murdered a 17-year-old girl who was in a love triangle with Morales's cousin and another man in California; his cousin was sentenced to life in prison as inductor. Though Morales did not deny his guilt, doubts about the evidence presented in his trial mounted as his scheduled execution for February 21, 2006, came near. The execution was postponed indefinitely due to medical professionals refusing to participate in executions, as their presence is obligatory under California law.
Kayle Barrington Bates March 11, 1983 August 19, 2025 42 years, 161 days  United States Sentenced to death for abducting and murdering a woman from an insurance office where she worked. Executed via lethal injection on August 19, 2025.[226]
George Banks June 22, 1983 November 2, 2025 42 years, 133 days Spree killer sentenced to death for the murders of twelve people in the 1982 Wilkes-Barre Shootings, including his five children. Although his insanity defence was rejected at the trial, he was later ruled incompetent to be executed in 2004 and 2010. Died in prison at the age of 83 of natural causes.[227]
David Joseph Carpenter November 26, 1984 ongoing 41 years, 155 days  United States Oldest death row inmate in California history. Sentenced to death for the murder of 2 women in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Later convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 5 others in Marion county.[228]
William Theodore Boliek Jr. December 11, 1984 41 years, 140 days Sentenced to death for the murder of an 18-year-old girl in Kansas City in 1983. In 1997, Boliek was granted a stay of execution by Governor Mel Carnahan. Carnahan died in a plane crash in 2000 and Boliek's case was not resolved. A court determined only Carnahan could overturn the stay, effectively leaving Boliek's case in permanent limbo. Governor Jay Nixon's office determined Boliek would not be executed and he will spend the remainder of his life in prison. Boliek is Missouri's longest-serving death row inmate.[229][230][231][232]
Richard Delmer Boyer December 14, 1984 41 years, 137 days Fatally stabbed an elderly couple.
Arthur Lee Giles August 18, 1979 September 30, 2020 41 years, 43 days  United States Was the longest-serving inmate on Alabama's death row, having been convicted of the 1978 murders of a couple in Blount County, Alabama. Giles died of pneumonia while on death row.[233]
Patrick McKenna 1980 April 19, 2021 41 years Spent most of his adult life in prison for various violent crimes, and was sentenced to death for the murder of his cell mate. He died on death row in Nevada.[234]
Kevin Cooper May 21, 1985 ongoing 40 years, 344 days  United States Career burglar sentenced to death for the murders of four members of the same family and attempted murder of two others during a home invasion in Chino Hills, California in 1983, shortly after he escaped from prison. Cooper was scheduled for execution on February 10, 2004, but it was postponed to allow DNA testing of the crime scene and getaway vehicle that did not exist at the time of his conviction. The results of both tests supported the case against Cooper.
Alphonso Cave December 10, 1982 August 3, 2023 40 years, 236 days  United States Parker and Cave were among the four men charged with the kidnapping and murder of Frances Slater on April 27, 1982. Parker, Cave and a third man named John Earl Bush were sentenced to death for first-degree murder, while the fourth person, Terry Wayne Johnson, was sentenced to life in prison. Bush was executed by the electric chair on October 21, 1996, after spending 41 years on death row. After several appeals and re-sentencing hearings, Parker's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment during his third re-sentencing trial on March 31, 2023. Cave died of unknown causes on August 3, 2023, while still on death row awaiting his execution.
J.B. Parker January 12, 1983 March 31, 2023 40 years, 78 days
Douglas Stankewitz October 12, 1978 May 3, 2019 40 years, 203 days Longest-serving death row inmate at California's San Quentin State Prison, a member of the Mono nation sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of a 22-year-old woman. Retried twice and sentenced to death on both occasions. Retried a third time and sentenced to life in prison without parole.[235]
Doug Clark March 24, 1983 October 11, 2023 40 years, 201 days One of the couple known as the "Sunset Strip Killers", who raped and murdered six women in Los Angeles during the summer of 1980. His partner, Carol Bundy, died in prison in 2003. Clark died of natural causes at a medical facility in 2023.[236]
Michael Owen Perry January 8, 1986 ongoing 40 years, 112 days  United States Murdered his parents, two of his cousins, and his 2-year-old nephew in Lake Arthur, Louisiana. Perry is Louisiana's longest-serving death row inmate.[237]
Danny Lee Hill March 5, 1986 ongoing 40 years, 56 days  United States Hill was one of the two people convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of 12-year-old Raymond Fife in Warren, Ohio. Only Hill, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was sentenced to death, and currently scheduled for execution on July 18, 2029. His accomplice Timothy Combs, who was 17 when the crime happened, was spared the death sentence and instead sentenced to life imprisonment; Combs died in prison in 2018.[238][239]

30–39 years

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Gerald Ross Pizzuto Jr. May 1, 1986 ongoing 39 years, 364 days  United States Beat a Marsing, Idaho woman and her nephew to death in July 1985. He was scheduled for execution on June 2, 2021.[240][241] He was granted a stay of execution on May 18, 2021, until a commutation hearing in November 2021.[242]
Tiequon Cox May 7, 1986 39 years, 358 days Member of the Crips sentenced to death for the hired mass murder of five relatives of former NFL player Kermit Alexander in their home. Cox was 18 at the time of the crimes.
Cesar Fierro February 14, 1980 December 19, 2019 39 years, 307 days  United States Mexican national arrested in Ciudad Juarez for the murder of a cab driver in El Paso and convicted in spite of no existing physical evidence linking him to the case. Formerly held on death row in Huntsville, Texas. His sentence was commuted to life in prison on December 19, 2019.[243][244]
Murray Hooper February 11, 1983 November 16, 2022 39 years, 278 days Convicted of participating in the December 31, 1980, robbery and murders of William Patrick Redmond and his mother-in-law Helen Phelps and the attempted murder of Redmond's wife Marilyn. He was executed by lethal injection on November 16, 2022.[245][246]
Malcolm Robbins May 12, 1983 January 27, 2023 39 years, 260 days Sentenced to death in 1983 for first degree murder in Santa Barbara County, California.[247]
Douglas Stewart Carter December 27, 1985 May 15, 2025 39 years, 139 days Killed an elderly woman during a burglary in Provo, Utah. Conviction overturned on May 15, 2025 awaiting retrial.
Gary Alvord April 9, 1974 May 19, 2013 39 years, 40 days Schizophrenic sentenced to death in Florida for the murder of three women over the price of one game of pool. Died of a brain tumor after several delays.
Richard Norman Rojem Jr. July 15, 1985 June 27, 2024 38 years, 348 days Sentenced for the July 1984 kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of his former stepdaughter, 7-year-old Layla Cummings.[248] Executed on June 27, 2024. According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Richard Rojem was the state's longest-serving death row prisoner at the time of his execution.[249][250]
Lawrence Bittaker March 24, 1981 December 13, 2019 38 years, 264 days One of the two "Toolbox Killers" who kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered five teenage girls in southern California during a period of five months in 1979. Died of natural causes in 2019. His partner in crime, Roy Norris, was sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole after 30 years in exchange for testifying against Bittaker.
Thomas Knight April 21, 1975 January 7, 2014 38 years, 261 days Sentenced to death for the murders of three people in Florida. Knight murdered a couple in Miami in 1974 and later murdered a corrections officer while on death row in 1980. He was executed by lethal injection on January 7, 2014.[251]
William Reaves September 2, 1987 ongoing 38 years, 240 days  United States Convicted of murdering Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Raczkoski in 1987. Retried in 1992 and again was sentenced to death.
Carey Dean Moore June 20, 1980 August 14, 2018 38 years, 55 days  United States Sentenced to death for the murders of two taxicab drivers in Nebraska. He was executed by lethal injection on August 14, 2018. He was Nebraska's longest-serving death row inmate.[252]
David Allen Raley May 24, 1988 ongoing 37 years, 341 days  United States Security guard who abducted, raped, beat, and stabbed two teenage girls in the abandoned Carolands mansion where he worked, before throwing them in a landfill. One of his victims died and the other survived.
Ronald Gray June 29, 1988 37 years, 305 days Convict held for the longest time ever on the US Military death row, a serial rapist and murderer who committed his crimes while stationed in Fort Bragg as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division.
James Aren Duckett June 30, 1988 37 years, 304 days Former police officer convicted and sentenced to death for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in Florida. Additionally a suspect in another two murder cases from Florida.
Ralph Leroy Menzies March 23, 1988 November 26, 2025 37 years, 248 days  United States Abducted and strangled a female gas station attendant in Kearns, Utah. Requested death by firing squad. Died in prison.
Sadamichi Hirasawa 1950 1987 37 years  Japan Confessed under torture to have committed the Teikoku Bank Incident of 1948, a mass poisoning of Imperial Bank employees that killed ten people. Hirasawa was never executed because no Justice Minister wanted to sign his death warrant, as all believed that he had been falsely charged. However, he was not granted a retrial either, and he was still in death row when he died from pneumonia in 1987.
James William Wilson Jr. May 9, 1989 ongoing 36 years, 356 days  United States Perpetrator of the 1988 Oakland Elementary School shooting; sentenced to death on May 9, 1989.
David Earl Miller March 17, 1982 December 6, 2018 36 years, 264 days  United States Sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of 23-year-old intellectually disabled woman, Lee Standifer. Miller was executed by electric chair in December 2018. He was Tennessee's longest-serving death row inmate.[253]
Cynthia Coffman August 31, 1989 ongoing 36 years, 242 days  United States Convicted for the murders of four women from October to November 1986. Coffman admits to committing the murders, but claims she suffered from battered-woman syndrome.
James Gregory Marlow
Donald Ray Middlebrooks September 22, 1989 36 years, 220 days Found guilty and sentenced to death for the 1987 racially motivated murder of a 14-year-old African-American boy named Kerrick Majors.
Byron Lewis Black March 10, 1989 August 5, 2025 36 years, 148 days  United States Found guilty of the 1988 murders of his girlfriend and her two daughters in Nashville, Tennessee, and sentenced to death on March 10, 1989. Executed on August 5, 2025 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
Bigler Jobe Stouffer II July 22, 1985 December 9, 2021 36 years, 140 days Sentenced to death for the murder of Linda Reaves in 1985. Stouffer intended to murder another man named Douglas Ivens, the boyfriend of his wife, for Ivens's life insurance, but Ivens survived the shooting incident that killed Reaves, Ivens's other girlfriend. Stouffer, whose death sentence was reversed at one point before the courts reinstated the death sentence, was executed by lethal injection on December 9, 2021.
Brandon Astor Jones October 17, 1979 February 3, 2016 36 years, 109 days Sentenced to death for his involvement in the felony murder of a convenience store manager in Georgia. Was retried and sentenced to death again in 1997 because the jurors at the first trial had brought a Bible into the deliberation room. Oldest prisoner in Georgia at the time of his execution, aged 72.
Randy Steven Kraft November 29, 1989 ongoing 36 years, 152 days  United States Sentenced to death for the rape and torture murder of 16 men committed between 1972–1983 suspected of committing up to 67 murders
Tomiyama Tsuneki 1967 2003 36 years  Japan Died of kidney failure in prison, at the age of 86.[254]
Romell Broom October 24, 1985 December 28, 2020 35 years, 65 days  United States Abducted, raped, and strangled a 14-year-old girl returning from a football game in East Cleveland, Ohio, and also attempted to kidnap two of her friends. Survived an attempted execution by lethal injection on September 15, 2009, because the executioners could not find a suitable vein. He died in prison from COVID-19 complications on December 28, 2020.[255][256][257]
Blanche Taylor Moore January 18, 1991 ongoing 35 years, 102 days  United States Convicted of poisoning her boyfriend, Raymond Reid, with arsenic. She is also suspected of killing three other members of her family.
George Trepal March 6, 1991 35 years, 55 days Poisoned a neighboring family. All members of the family except 41-year-old Peggy Carr survived. Trepal was later convicted of first degree murder.
Oscar Franklin Smith July 26, 1990 May 22, 2025 34 years, 293 days  United States Found guilty of the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her two sons, and sentenced to death. Smith was the oldest death row inmate in Tennessee at the time of his execution.
Edmund Zagorski March 27, 1984 November 1, 2018 34 years, 219 days Sentenced to death by the state of Tennessee for the 1983 murders of two men, and was executed by electrocution in 2018.
Ronald Watson Lafferty May 7, 1985 November 11, 2019 34 years, 188 days Self-proclaimed prophet from Utah who claimed to have been divinely mandated to murder a number of people starting with his sister-in-law and her baby daughter. A death sentence was overturned on the grounds that he was not competent to stand trial, but he was deemed competent, retried, and sentenced to death again in 1996. Lafferty had requested to be executed by firing squad.
Henry Eugene Hodges January 30, 1992 ongoing 34 years, 90 days  United States Convicted serial killer sentenced to death for the murder of Ronald Bassett in Tennessee and given two life terms for killings in Tennessee and Georgia. Suspect behind at least five more killings.
Edward Harold Schad December 27, 1979 October 9, 2013 33 years, 286 days  United States Oldest prisoner in Arizona death row at the time of his execution by lethal injection, aged 71. Sentenced to death for the murder and robbery of a 74-year-old man in 1978, while he was in parole for another murder ten years prior.[258][259]
Pervis Tyrone Payne February 16, 1988 November 18, 2021 33 years, 275 days Murdered an acquaintance and her 2-year-old daughter. Payne was scheduled to be executed in December 2020, but was given a reprieve until April 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[260] In September 2020, DNA testing was ordered to investigate his claims of innocence.[261] Payne was resentenced to two concurrent life sentences on January 31, 2022.
Frank Athen Walls July 30, 1992 December 18, 2025 33 years, 141 days Serial killer who murdered five people in Okaloosa County, Florida from 1985 to 1987 during robberies or sexually motivated attacks. Walls was originally sentenced to death in 1988 but was retried and sentenced to death. Executed on December 18, 2025.
Billy Leon Kearse November 8, 1991 March 3, 2026 34 years, 115 days Billy Leon Kearse was found guilty of murdering Fort Pierce police officer Danny Parrish on January 18, 1991.
Sakae Menda March 23, 1950 July 15, 1983 33 years, 114 days  Japan After being arrested for stealing rice, Menda was tortured until he confessed to the murders of a Buddhist priest and his wife, which he did not commit. He was not represented by a lawyer, no physical evidence linking Menda to the murders was ever produced, and the testimony of witnesses backing his alibi was deliberately kept out of his trial. In 1979 he was granted a retrial and in 1983 he was acquitted, becoming the first person in the History of Japan to be released from death row.
Jack Alderman June 1975 September 16, 2008 33 years, 3 months  United States Murdered his wife with a wrench in Georgia. Executed by lethal injection.
Charles Lee Burton May 8, 1992 March 10, 2026 33 years, 306 days Burton was one of six men who committed a robbery that led to the murder of 34-year-old Doug Battle. Burton was sentenced to death, and was originally scheduled to be executed on March 12, 2026, but two days before the execution date, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.[262]
Eric Darnell Holmes March 26, 1993 ongoing 33 years, 35 days  United States Convicted of robbing and murdering two former co-workers at a Shoney's restaurant in 1989, and sentenced to death in 1993. Holmes is the longest-serving prisoner on Indiana's death row.
Bobby Joe Long July 25, 1986 May 23, 2019 32 years, 302 days  United States Known as "The Classified Ad Rapist" or "The Adman Rapist", kidnapped, raped and killed at least ten women in Tampa Bay Area in Florida during an eight-month period in 1984. He was executed on May 23, 2019, by lethal injection.
Thomas Warren Whisenhant September 7, 1977 May 27, 2010 32 years, 262 days Sentenced to death for the murder of a convenience store clerk in Alabama. He later admitted to murdering a further three women in Mobile County. He was executed by lethal injection on May 27, 2010. At the time of his execution, he was Alabama's longest-serving death row inmate.[263]
Dayton Leroy Rogers June 9, 1989 November 12, 2021 32 years, 156 days Rogers was convicted in May 1989 for the murders of 23-year-old Lisa Marie Mock, 26-year-old Maureen Ann Hodges, 35-old Christine Lotus Adams, 20-year-old Cynthia Devore, 26-year-old Nondace "Noni" Cervantes, and 16-year-old Riatha Gyles. Removed from death row for the final time on November 12, 2021, due in part to a new law signed by Governor Kate Brown, which limited the amount of aggravating factors required for seeking the death penalty.[264]
Stephen Michael West March 25, 1987 August 15, 2019 32 years, 143 days Murdered a mother-daughter pair in Tennessee in 1986. Executed by the electric chair on August 15, 2019.[265]
Christopher Sepulvado May 24, 1993 February 22, 2025 31 years, 274 days Tortured and murdered his stepson in 1992. Sepulvado's execution was stayed several times due to legal issues, and originally, Sepulvado was scheduled to be executed on March 17, 2025, but he died of natural causes less than a month before he could be executed.[266][267]
James H. Roane Jr. June 1, 1993 December 23, 2024 31 years, 205 days Convicted for the murders of multiple persons to expand the influence of their drug trafficking syndicate in Virginia between January 1992 and February 1992. Roane, Tipton and a third accomplice named Corey Johnson were sentenced to death by the US federal government, while the fourth man, Vernon Lance Thomas, was sentenced to life without parole. Johnson was executed by lethal injection on January 14, 2021.[268][269] On December 23, 2024, outgoing President Joe Biden exercised his clemency powers and commuted the death sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, including Roane and Tipton, and allowed them to serve life without parole. Roane and Tipton were the longest-serving prisoners on federal death row at the time of their commutation.[270]
Richard Tipton
Larry Roy August 30, 1994 ongoing 31 years, 243 days  United States Dubbed the "Cheneyville Slasher", Roy was found guilty of the 1993 murders of his ex-girlfriend's husband and aunt in Cheneyville, Louisiana. Roy was convicted on July 19, 1994.
Charles Ray Crawford April 23, 1994 October 15, 2025 31 years, 175 days  United States Kidnapped, raped and murdered a 20-year-old college student in Mississippi in 1993 while out on bail for unrelated assault and rape charges. Executed on October 15, 2025, by lethal injection.[271]
Robert Brian Waterhouse September 3, 1980 February 5, 2012 31 years, 155 days Murdered and mutilated a woman in Florida while he was on parole from a life sentence for murder. Executed in 2012.[272]
Willie Jerome Manning November 8, 1994 ongoing 31 years, 173 days  United States Convicted of abducting two college students, sexually assaulting one of them, and killing both of them. Manning was also convicted of two more murders, but was later exonerated.
Henry McCollum 1983 September 2, 2014 31 years  United States Longest-serving death row inmate in North Carolina. Sentenced for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, while his half-brother Leon Brown was sentenced to life in prison. Both men were intellectually disabled. They were exonerated following DNA tests and released.[273]
Erica Sheppard April 25, 1995 ongoing 31 years, 5 days  United States Convicted of robbing and murdering Marilyn Meagher in Houston in 1993. Sheppard and her accomplice James Dickerson were both sentenced to death, but Dickerson died of AIDS in prison in 1999. Sheppard is the longest-serving female prisoner on Texas's death row.
Won Eon-sik November 23, 1993 32 years, 158 days  South Korea Mass murderer who Arson Wonju Kingdom Hall on 4 October 1992 that killed 15 people and injured 25, He is the longest-serving death row inmate in South Korea[274]

False claims

Name Sentence start Sentence end Sentence duration Country Description
Jean-Baptiste Mouron 1684 1784 100 years and 1 day  France A man claimed in the 1934 edition of Ripley's Believe It or Not! to have been condemned to galleys for one hundred years and one day as a teenager, and lived to be released as a supercentarian after completing his sentence.[275] The source claimed by Ripley, Jean Marteilhe's Mémoires d'un protestant, condamné aux galères de France pour cause de religion references the arrest and sentence to galleys of 500 Huguenots in 1684 but not Mouron's story, and actually predates his supposed release.[276]

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