List of longest prison sentences served

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 don't allow sentences without parole or for convicts to remain in prison beyond a given number of years (regardless of their original conviction).

Prisoners who served more than sixty years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Charles Fossard	1903	1974	70 years, 303 days	Australia	Homeless French Australian immigrant recluded 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.[1]
Paul Geidel Jr.	1911	1980	68 years, 245 days	United States	Longest-serving prison inmate in the United States whose sentence ended in release. Incarcerated from 1911, aged 17 and released 1980 at 86. He died in a nursing home in 1987, aged 93.
Francis Clifford Smith	7 June 1950	ongoing	7004249650000000000♠68 years, 128 days	United States	Oldest prisoner 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.
Johnson Van Dyke Grigsby	1908	1974	66 years, 123 days	United States	Sentenced to life in prison for murder, he was denied parole 33 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.
William Heirens	1946	2012	65 years, 181 days	United States	Known as the "Lipstick Killer". Reputed to be the longest surviving prisoner in Chicago. Died in prison.
John Phillips	17 July 1952	ongoing	7004241940000000000♠66 years, 88 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in North Carolina. Convicted for the rape of a five-year-old girl.[2]
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". Paroled.
Richard Honeck	1899	1963	64 years, 44 days	United States	Aged 22, 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	United States	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. Died in 2003, aged 82.
Charles Edret Ford	1952	2016	64 years	United States	Prisoner incarcerated for the longest time who was found to be innocent on retrial, and the longest serving prisoner in Maryland. Ford, a black man, was convicted for murder by an all-white jury in 1952, when he was 20, and again for an assault in 1975 supposedly committed while he was on parole. The second victim identified a different man as her attacker but the judge argued that both men looked alike enough. Ford, at the time the only person present at his first conviction who was still alive, was granted retrials in 2015 for both charges because he had not been informed of his right to appeal the sentences. He was found innocent of both and released to a nursing home.[3]
Joseph Ligon	1953	ongoing	7004236750000000000♠64 years, 299 days	United States	The oldest juvenile lifer in the U.S., Ligon at age 15 was sentenced to life without parole for murder, a mandatory sentence at the time.[4] Ligon first rejected a resentencing and parole offer in 2016.[5] 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 that can cut all ties to the justice system.[4]
Oliver Terpening	1947	2010	63 years, 125 days	United States	Killed a school friend and three young girls and attempted to rape another girl because he wanted to know how it felt to kill somebody. He found the experience disappointing. Died in prison.
"Old" Bill Wallace	1926	1989	63 years	Australia	Imprisoned for shooting a man in an argument over a cigarette in a cafe of Melbourne. Died a month before his 108th birthday, still in prison, incarcerated in J Ward.
Hugh Alderman	1917	1980	62 years, 192 days	United States	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.
Walter H. Bourque Jr.	1955	ongoing	7004229520000000000♠62 years, 306 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in New Hampshire. Serving a sentence of 99 years and six months for the axe murder of a four-year-old girl when he was 17.
Warren Nutter	1956	ongoing	7004228910000000000♠62 years, 245 days	United States	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. Sentence commuted to life in prison in 1957.[6]
Howard Unruh	1949	2009	60 years	United States	Mass murderer who killed 13 people and injured three in Camden, New Jersey. Recluded in a mental hospital without trial or conviction.

Prisoners who served between fifty and sixty years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Raymond L. Shuman	13 June 1958	3 February 2018[7]	59 years, 7 months, 20 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Nevada. Jailed for the murder and robbery 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 2018.
Jesse Pomeroy	December 1874	September 29, 1932	57 years, nine 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 fifteen 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.
Mehmet VI	1861	1918	56 years	Ottoman Empire	Kept in the Seraglio and the Kafes from his birth to his accession to the throne, aged 56. He was both the last Ottoman prince to be ritually imprisoned by his family and the one who was imprisoned for the longest time.
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.
Chester Weger	4 April 1961	ongoing	7004210110000000000♠57 years, 192 days	United States	Convicted for the murder of three women in Starved Rock State Park in 1960. Last denied parole in November 2016.[8]
William Holly Griffith	1915	1971	55 years, 359 days	United States	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 sheriff that was going to arrest him and a railway policeman 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.
John Straffen	1952	2007	55 years	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 Wetzel	1957	2012	55 years	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 died of Alzheimer's disease when he was 90 years old, still in prison.[9]
András Toma	1945	2000	55 years	Soviet Union  Russia	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.
Booker T. Hillery	1962	ongoing	7004204350000000000♠55 years, 346 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in California. Originally sentenced to death but changed to life in prison in the 1970s. Appealed, was retried and found guilty again in 1986.
Garold Rheinschmidt	1960	May 1, 2015	54 years, eight months, 12 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Wisconsin at the time of his death.[10]
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. Died at the age of 76, still incarcerated.
Tony Rawlins	28 December 1955	17 April 2010	54 years, three months, 20 days	Australia	Convicted of the "Kissing Point mutilation murder", the strangling of a 12-year-old girl who rejected his advances. Was Australia's longest serving prisoner when he died, with eighteen parole applications being rejected.
Don Diego de Castilla y Sandoval	1370	1424	54 years	Castile	Posthumous illegitimate child of Peter I of Castile. Recluded in Curiel castle when he was an infant, under orders of Henry II. Freed after his daughter, fathered with the castle warden's daughter, solicited his release to John II. Died in Coca in 1459, aged 89.[11][12]
Sheldry Topp	1963	ongoing	54 years	United States	Oldest juvenile lifer in Michigan. Last denied parole in 2016.[13]
James R. Moore	1963	ongoing	54 years	United States	Pled guilty to the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to "natural life." Last parole application rejected in 2016.[14]
Machal Lalung	1951	2005	54 years	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.[15]
Robert Stroud	1909	1963	54 years	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.
Hans-Georg Neumann	1963	ongoing	7004202250000000000♠55 years, 136 days	Germany	Abducted and shot a young couple at a lovers lane. Longest serving prisoner in Germany.
Leotha Brown	1964	ongoing	7004200090000000000♠54 years, 285 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Louisiana.
Harvey Stewart	1958	2011 or 2012	53 or 54 years	United States	Paroled after serving a combined time of 60 years for various sentences in Texas.
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.
Jimmy Ennis	1964	ongoing	7004196960000000000♠53 years, 338 days	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.[16]
William MacDonald	May 1963	May 12, 2015	52 years	Australia	English-born Australian Serial killer known as "the Sydney Mutilator." Oldest and longest serving prisoner in New South Wales at the time of his death.
Jerry Lee Hansen	1965	ongoing	7004195040000000000♠53 years, 146 days	United States	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.
Antonio "Tony" Wheat	1965	ongoing	7004193390000000000♠52 years, 346 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Washington state. Next parole hearing in 2020.
Winston Moseley	1964	2016	51 years, 291 days	United States	Murderer of Kitty Genovese. Died in prison.
Richard Robles	1965	ongoing	7004193090000000000♠52 years, 316 days	United States	Perpetrator of the Career Girls Murders.
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.
Alfred Tai	1963	2014	51 years	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Hawaii. Paroled at the age of 72.
Walter Kelbach	1967	ongoing	7004187860000000000♠51 years, 158 days	United States	Spree killer who murdered five people and raped two in Utah with his cousin.
Hugo Pinell	1965	2015	50 years	United States	Nicaraguan national sentenced to life in prison for rape. See below.
John Weber	1926	1976	50 years	United States	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 benefitted from it. Was the oldest prisoner in the United States at the time of his death, only a few months from his 100th birthday.[17][18]

Prisoners who served less than fifty years, but notable for other reasons

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Heinrich Pommerenke	10 June 1959	27 December 2008	49 years, six months, 17 days	Germany	Serial killer known as "the Monster of the Black Forest." Was Germany's longest serving prisoner when he died.
Søren Mathiasen	1876	1925	49 years, 180 days	Denmark	Farmer sentenced to life of hard labor in Horsens State Prison for killing the prestamist (moneylender) he was indebted to. Paroled.
Alfred Vincent	1968	ongoing	7004183350000000000♠50 years, 73 days	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 200-500 children. Has a parole hearing scheduled for 2018.[19]
Betty Smithey	1963	2012	49 years	United States	Longest serving female prisoner in the United States at the time of her parole.
"Crazy Jimmie" Williams	1948	1998	49 years	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Arizona at the time of his death, aged 66.
Melvin Thomas Mott	5 March 1965	19 February 2014	48 years, 11 months, 14 days	Australia	Originally sentenced to two and a half years for child sex offences and escaping from custody, he was convicted of the 1964 murder of a 13-year-old girl in 1968 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Longest serving prisoner in Queensland when he died, having had 14 parole applications rejected.
Sirhan Sirhan	17 April 1969	ongoing	7004180760000000000♠49 years, 179 days	United States	Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship. Assassin of Robert F. Kennedy. Originally sentenced to death, sentence commuted in 1971 to life in prison. Parole has been denied fifteen times.
Rudolf Hess	10 May 1941	17 August 1987	46 years, 3 months, 7 days	United Kingdom  West Germany	Deputy Führer of Nazi Germany who flew solo to Scotland to negotiate a peace treaty but was instead taken prisoner. He was later tried for "crimes against peace" and sentenced to life in prison, which he served in Spandau. Committed suicide.
Joanna I of Castile	1509	1555	46 years	Castile Spain	Recluded in a nunnery of Tordesillas until her death, following orders of her father Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Walerian Łukasiński	1822	1868	46 years	Congress Poland  Russia	Polish military officer suspected of harboring anti-Russian sentiments, kept in prison even after completing his original sentence of 14 years. Sentence spent entirely in solitary confinement.
Vincenzo Verzeni	1872	1918	46 years	Italy	Double murderer and cannibal.
Iwao Hakamada	1968	2014	46 years	Japan	Spent entirely in death row. See below.
Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch	1972	ongoing	7004170530000000000♠46 years, 251 days	Argentina	Serial killer. Longest serving prisoner in South America
Amy Archer-Gilligan	1917	1962	45 years	United States	Nursing home proprietor who poisoned her two husbands and a number of her tenants to cash on their life insurance. Originally sentenced to death, the sentence was changed to life in prison after a retrial in 1919. Served her sentence in a mental hospital from 1924 to her death.
Clarence Carnes	1943	1988	45 years	United States	Originally sentenced to life in prison for murder when he was sixteen years old, he was sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1945 after two unsuccessful escape attempts. He took part in the "Battle of Alcatraz" the following year, but was recaptured and was sentenced to a further 203 years in prison. He was granted parole in 1973, but it was revoked twice before he died in prison from AIDS-related complications.
Kim Sŏn-myŏng	1951	1995	45 years	South Korea	Longest held of the "unconverted long-term prisoners," North Korean POWs captured during the Korean War who refused to renounce Juche. Kim Sŏn-myŏng was born in the south but joined the north, and was sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison; his family denounced him and had him declared dead in 1975. Released to North Korea.
Albert Woodfox	1971	2016	45 years	United States	Black Panther imprisoned for robbery and later put in solitary confinement for the murder of a prison guard in 1972. See below.
Magdelaine Chapelain	1679	1724	44.5 years	France	Parisian fortune-teller involved in the Affair of the Poisons. Died in prison.
Sharon Wiggins	1969	2013	44 years	United States	Longest juvenile female serving life without parole. After fatal bank robbery, she was sentenced to death at 17 years old. Three years later, commuted to life without parole.

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.

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Hugo Pinell	1969	2015	46 years	United States	Murdered by another inmate during a riot two weeks after his solitary confinement was lifted.
Walerian Łukasiński	1822	1868	46 years	Congress Poland  Russia	See above.
Pietro Acciarito	1897	1941	44 years	Italy	Attempted assassin of Umberto I of Italy.
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	United States	Imposed for murdering a prison guard in McNeil Island.
Herman Wallace	1972	2013	41 years	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.
Jesse Pomeroy	1875	1917	41 years	United States	See above.
Woo Yong-gak	1958	1999	41 years	South Korea	Captured during a North Korean commando raid after the armistice. Released to North Korea in 2000.
Mark David Chapman	1981	ongoing	37 years	United States	Placed in solitary confinement after pleading guilty to murdering John Lennon on December 8, 1980.
Thomas Silverstein	1983	ongoing	7004127750000000000♠34 years, 356 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.
Robert Maudsley	1983	ongoing	34+ years	United Kingdom	Serial killer imprisoned in 1977. Placed in a specially-built solitary cell after killing three other prisoners.
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.[20]
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	1993	2017	24 years	Italy	Reputed "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian maffia, nicknamed "The Beast". Believed to have ordered over 150 murders in Italy. Died in prison, aged 87.[21][22]
Ian Manuel	1993	2016	23 years	United States	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.[23][24]
Yolanda Saldívar	1995	ongoing	22 years	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.
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	22 years	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.
Rudolf Hess	1966	1987	21 years	West Germany	Became the only prisoner in Spandau Prison after all the others completed their sentences or were pardoned.
Clayton Fountain	1983	2004	21 years	United States	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.
Luis Felipe	1997[25]	ongoing	7003791100000000000♠21 years, 241 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.
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.
John T. Downey	1952	1973	20 years, 3 months and 14 days	China	CIA agents captured 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.[26]
Richard Fecteau		1971	19 years
Viktor Ivanovich Ilyin	1969	1988	19 years	Soviet Union	Attempted assassin of Leonid Brezhnev. Released in 1990.
Clarence Carnes	1946	1963	17 years	United States	Placed in solitary for his part in the "Battle of Alcatraz". The measure ended with the closing of the prison.
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.

Longest spells in death row

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

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Iwao Hakamada	1968	2014	46 years	Japan	Granted a retrial and found innocent after it was determined that the evidence used to convict him the first time was forged.
Richard Gerald Jordan	1977	ongoing	7004152270000000000♠41 years, 252 days	United States	Sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of a woman in Mississippi.[27]
Raymond Riles	1978	ongoing	39+ years	United States	Longest held prisoner in death row in Texas. His execution was stayed several times since 1980, for different reasons. He was later diagnosed with mental problems and is as a result considered not mentally fit to be executed, but won't be moved out of death row either.
Gary Alvord	1973	2013	39 years	United States	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.
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 wasn't granted a retrial either, and he was still in death row when he died from pneumonia in 1987.
Brandon Astor Jones	1979	2016	37 years	United States	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.
Tomiyama Tsuneki	1967	2003	36 years	Japan	Died of kidney failure in prison, at the age of 86.[28]
Sakae Menda	1949	1983	34 years	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 deliberatedly 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.
Edward Harold Schad	1979	2013	34 years	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.[29][30]
Robert Brian Waterhouse	1980	2012	32 years	United States	Murdered and mutilated a woman in Florida while he was on parole from a life sentence for murder.[31]
Henry McCollum	1983	2014	31 years	United States	Longest serving death row inmate in North Carolina. Sentenced for the rape and murder of a 11-year-old girl, while his half-brother was sentenced to life in prison. Both men were exonerated by DNA and released.[32]

See also

• List of longest prison sentences
• List of prisoners with whole-life tariffs
• Man in the Iron Mask, a famous prisoner in pre-Revolutionary France whose prison conditions have been sometimes exaggerated
• Blanche Monnier, a French woman who was locked alone in a small room by her own family for 25 years

References

Other sources

• The Longest Prison Sentences Ever Served, A Blast From the Past, 2010-07-24 . Lists the lengthiest sentences actually completed, with detailed case studies.