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).

Longest sentences served

  Indicates cases where imprisonment is still ongoing

More than 70 years

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 whose sentence ended in release. 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]

60–69 years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Paul Geidel Jr.	1911	1980	68 years, 245 days	United States	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 1976. 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	United States	Convicted for the rape of a five-year-old girl.[7] According to the North Carolina DOC, he was released on March 9, 2021, on parole. His parole ends on March 8, 2026.[8]
Walter H. Bourque Jr.	December 11, 1955	ongoing	68 years, 48 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.[9]
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.[10] Ligon first rejected a resentencing and parole offer in 2016.[11] 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.[10][12] He spoke to the BBC World Service about his life in May 2021.[13]
Johnson Van Dyke Grigsby	1908	1974	66 years, 123 days	United States	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.[14]
Sammie Robinson	September 26, 1953	December 20, 2019	66 years, 85 days	United States	Spent 66 years in prison in Louisiana, beginning when he was 17 and ending with his death at 83.[15]
Warren Nutter	February 2, 1956	December 8, 2021	65 years, 10 months, 6 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.[16] Sentence commuted to life in prison in 1957.[17] He died in the hospice room of the Iowa State Penitentiary in December 2021, aged 84.[18]
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.
Kenneth Nicely	December 23, 1958	ongoing	65 years, 36 days	United States	Longest serving inmate in Arkansas. Convicted of killing a police officer.[19]
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.[20][21]
Richard Honeck	1899	1963	64 years, 44 days	United States	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	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. He was paroled in 2001 and died in 2003, aged 82.[22]
Charles Edret Ford	1952	2016	64 years	United States	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.[23]
Oliver Terpening	1947	2010	63 years, 125 days	United States	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.[24]
"Old Bill" Wallace	1926	1989	63 years	Australia	Imprisoned for shooting a man in an argument over a cigarette in a Melbourne cafe. Died a month before his 108th birthday, still in prison, incarcerated in J Ward. Listed in Guinness World Records as the oldest prisoner in world history.[25]
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.[26][failed verification]
Booker T. Hillery	November 1, 1962[27][failed verification][28][29]	ongoing	61 years, 88 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in California. Accused of stabbing and killing fifteen-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.
Michael Anthony Mayola	November 15, 1962	ongoing	61 years, 74 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.[30]
Howard Unruh	September 6, 1949	October 19, 2009	60 years, 43 days	United States	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.
Hans-Georg Neumann	1963	ongoing	60 years, 243 days	West Berlin  Germany	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.[31]
Clifford Hampton	1959	2019	60 years	United States	Longest serving juvenile lifer in Louisiana. Resentenced due to Montgomery v. Louisiana and paroled in April 2019.[32]

50–59 years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Raymond L. Shuman	June 13, 1958	February 3, 2018	59 years, 7 months, 20 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Nevada. Jailed 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 2018.[33]
James R. Moore	1963	ongoing	60 years, 52 days	United States	Pled guilty to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to "natural life." Also pleaded confessed to the sexual assault of dozens of other young girls.[34][35] Last parole application rejected in 2019.[36] He was granted parole in May 2022 and was scheduled to be released on or around June 6, 2022.[37]
Robert Brim (AKA Robert Mertz)	1958	January 7, 2018	59 years, 2 months	United States	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.[38][39] He died in prison.[40]
Harvey Stewart	1951	1957	59 years	United States	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.[41][42][22]
	1958	1984
	1986	2011
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.[43]
Larry Ranes	October 23, 1964	ongoing	59 years, 97 days	United States	Serial killer serving life without parole for the murder of Gary Smock. He is also the brother of fellow serial killer Danny Ranes.
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.[44][45] Caspersen died in May 2023.[46]
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.
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.[47][48][49]
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.[50][51][52][53]
Wyman Hall	1897	1954	57 years	United States	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.[54]
James Earl Hinton	January 26, 1967	ongoing	57 years, 2 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.[55]
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.[56]
Sheldry Topp	1963	February 2019	56 years	United States	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.[57][58]
George Yutaka Shimabuku	1964	2020	56 years	United States	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.[59]
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 police chief[60] who was going to arrest him and a constable[61] 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]
Michael Herrington	July 8, 1967	ongoing	56 years, 204 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.[44][62]
Edward Albert Seibold	September 20, 1967	ongoing	56 years, 130 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.[55]
Robert Mone	January 23, 1968	Ongoing	56 years, 5 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.[63]
Emmett James Paramore	1968	ongoing	55 years, 292 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.[64][65]
Thomas Fuller	1968	ongoing	55 years, 275 days	United States	Shot and killed five children in Coles County, Illinois.[66][67]
Antonio "Tony" Wheat	November 1, 1965	November 11, 2020	55 years, 10 days	United States	The longest serving prisoner in Washington state, a U.S. 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.[68]
Diego de Castilla	1379	1434	55 years	Castile	Illegitimate son of King Peter I of Castile, imprisoned in Curiel Castle by his uncle Henry II when he was 14 years old, and released by his uncle's great-grandson, John II. Died in 1440.[69]
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.
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 Edward Wetzel[70]	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 maintained his innocence[71] and died of Alzheimer's disease when he was 90 years old, still in prison.[72]
Allen Smith	c. December 1953	September 7, 2009	c. 55 years	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.[24]
Clarence Shepherd	1965	2020	55 years	United States	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.[55][73]
John Mikulovsky	June 15, 1968	ongoing	55 years, 227 days	United States	Murdered his parents in December 1967.[44][74]
John David Smith	July 12, 1968	ongoing	55 years, 200 days	United States	Convicted of the murder of William Straight [75]
Earl Perry	June 11, 1943	March 23, 1998	54 years, 9 months, and 12 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.[76] He was denied parole in 1958,[77] 1963,[78] 1968[79] and 1974.[80] Died in prison on March 23, 1998.[81][better source needed]
Garold Rheinschmidt	1960	May 1, 2015	54 years, 8 months, 12 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Wisconsin at the time of his death.[82]
Harry Hebard	October 4, 1968	ongoing	55 years, 116 days	United States	Murdered five of his relatives, including three children, in 1963.[83]
Verdell Miles	April 27, 1967	December 14, 2021	54 years, 231 days	United States	Inmate in Wisconsin who was sentenced in 1967. Paroled on December 14, 2021.[44][84]
Richard Robles	December 1, 1965	May 21, 2020	54 years, 5 months, 21 days	United States	Perpetrator of the Career Girls Murders. He was paroled in May 2020 as per the New York Department of Corrections.[85]
Clyde Johnson	1969	ongoing	54 years, 348 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 man had called him a racial slur and reached for a gun.[86]
Tony Rawlins	December 28, 1955	April 17, 2010	54 years, 3 months, 20 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.[87]
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.[88]
Sirhan Sirhan	1969	ongoing	54 years, 286 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.[89] 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.[90]
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[91][92]
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.[93]
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.
Jerry Lee Hansen	May 20, 1965	May 11, 2019	53 years, 11 months, 21 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 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.[94][95][96]
Michael Wilber Wade	October 28, 1966	September 2, 2020	53 years, 10 months, 5 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.[97] Died in prison.[98][99]
George Nassar	June 26, 1965	December 3, 2018	53 years, 5 months, 7 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, he died in prison.[100]
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.
Norman Santiago	1969	ongoing	53 years	United States	Serving life without parole for the murder of a police officer in Hawaii.[101][102]
Bobby Beausoleil	April 18, 1970	ongoing	53 years, 285 days	United States	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.
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.
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.[103] He was held in Rimutaka Prison's high dependency unit due to suffering from dementia and a heart condition.[104] He was released in February 2021.[105]
John Norman Collins	August 19, 1970	ongoing	53 years, 162 days	United States	Suspected serial abductor, rapist, and murderer of seven women in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area during the late 1960s, though only convicted of one murder.
Jerry Lee Duffey	September 1970	ongoing	52 years	United States	Originally sentenced to 1,000 years in prison for robbing and raping a pregnant woman.[106][107] His sentence was reduced to two life terms on appeal.[108]
Arthur Duncan	1970	ongoing	52 years	United Kingdom	Convicted of murder and rape when he was 18 in 1970. Duncan featured in a 2014 news report about his human rights potentially being breached.[109]
Daniel Wheeler	March 1971	Ongoing	52 years	United States	Sentenced to life without parole for murdering his 16-year-old pregnant ex girlfriend in 1970 when he was 17.[110][111]
Patricia Krenwinkel	April 28, 1971	ongoing	52 years, 275 days	United States	Member of Manson family; longest serving female prisoner in US penal history.
William MacDonald	May 1963	May 12, 2015	52 years	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	52 years	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.[112] He refused to apply for release until he was freed in 2016, aged 87.[113]
James Albert Findley	February 1971	Ongoing	52 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 2023.[114][115]
Winston Moseley	July 7, 1964	March 28, 2016	51 years, 291 days	United States	Murderer of Kitty Genovese. Died in prison.[116]
Tex Watson	October 21, 1971	ongoing	52 years, 99 days	United States	Second in command of the Manson Family and leader in the Cielo Drive and Tate-LaBianca murders.
William Jones	October 28, 1971	ongoing	52 years, 92 days	United States	Convicted of first degree murder in Hempstead County, Arkansas.[117]
Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch	1972	ongoing	51 years, 358 days	Argentina	Serial killer. Longest serving prisoner in South America.
Bruce M. Davis	April 21, 1972	ongoing	51 years, 282 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.
Julia Belle Rollins	August 02, 1972	ongoing	51 years, 179 days	United States	Convicted of murder for shooting a 24-year-old woman in a bar.[118]
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.
Walter B. Kelbach	1967	2018	51 years	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.[119]
Alfred Tai	1963	2014	51 years	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Hawaii. Paroled at the age of 72.[120]
Theo H.	1960	2011	51 years	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.[121]
Sam Glass	1967	2018	51 years	United Kingdom	He was ordered to be detained indefinitely in 1967 after he indecently assaulted, stabbed and strangled a five-year-old girl.[122]
David Brault	1969	July 13, 2020	51 years	Canada	Was convicted in 1969 of the shooting deaths of two men, as well as two sexual assaults and several other offences.[123]
Willie Ingram	1970	2021	51 years	United States	Convicted of armed robbery and aggravated rape in 1970, he spent 51 years in prison in Louisiana, before being released in 2021.[124]
Carl Macedonio	June 12, 1972	April 25, 2023	50 years, 10 months, 13 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.[125]
Edmund Kemper	November 8, 1973	ongoing	50 years, 81 days	United States	Serial killer convicted of murdering eight women, including his mother. He was previously institutionalized as a juvenile for murdering his grandparents.
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 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.[126][127]
Hugo Pinell	1965	August 12, 2015[128]	50 years	United States	Nicaraguan national sentenced to life in prison for rape. See below.August 12, 2015
John Franzese	March 1967	June 23, 2017	50 years	United States	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.[129] 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.
Bobby Gene Griffin	May 27, 1968	June 6, 2018	50 years	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.[130]
James Ferguson	1969	2019	50 years	United Kingdom	Serial child rapist who was detained in Carstairs State Hospital for fifty years.[131]
Gloria Williams	1971	January 25, 2022	50 years	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.[132] Williams was paroled in January 2022.[133]

40–49 years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
George Williams	July 1970	June 24, 2020	49 years, 11 months	Jamaica	Arrested and charged with murder when he was 20 years old, never saw trial because he was found mentally unfit to plead. Released after all charges were dropped.[134][135]
Albert Pedersen	November 15, 1971	September 9, 2021	49 years, 9 months	United States	Convicted of murdering a young mother and her in-laws in Staten Island, New York. He died at Mohawk Correctional Center on September 9, 2021. Parole was repeatedly denied, most recently in 2020.[136][137][138][139]
Robert Cook	1971	November 2, 2020	49 years, 226 days	United States	Sentenced to life without parole for the December 29, 1969, murder of 24-year old Lloyd Tanner in Pontiac, Michigan which he committed at the age of 17. In 1971 Cook was found guilty of murder despite insisting repeatedly that he killed Lloyd in self-defense. Resentenced on October 30, 2020, to 40 to 60 years in prison and paroled on November 2.[140][141]
Heinrich Pommerenke	June 10, 1959	December 27, 2008	49 years, six months, 17 days	West Germany, 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 moneylender he was indebted to. Paroled.
Wayne Coleman	January 24, 1974	ongoing	50 years, 4 days	United States	Sentenced to several terms of life without parole for his role in The Alday Murders.[142][143][144][145]
John Sam Hall	1967	February 2, 2016	49 years	United States	Juvenile lifer in the state of Michigan who at the age of 17 robbed and murdered a 73-year-old man for which he was sentenced to life without parole, However, due to Miller v. Alabama in 2012 and then Montgomery v. Louisiana in 2016. he was resentenced to 25 to 60 years and released in 2016.[146][147][148]
Betty Smithey	1963	2012	49 years	United States	Longest serving female prisoner in the United States at the time of her parole. She was originally sentenced to life without parole for a murder in Arizona.[41]
"Crazy Jimmie" Williams	1948	1998	49 years	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Arizona at the time of his death, aged 66.[149]
Dennis Michael Creamer	1968	2017	49 years	United States	Juvenile lifer in the state of Florida who at the age of 17 in 1968 shot a man in the head as he slept in his car.[150] He was re-sentenced to 56 years and, as he had served 49 years and had time taken off for good behaviour, was released immediately.
Herbert Mullin	August 19, 1973	August 18, 2022	48 years, 11 months, 30 days	United States	Serial killer who claimed to have murdered 13 people as human sacrifices to prevent earthquakes in California. Died in hospital of natural causes.[151]
Albert Paul	March 20, 1972	March 15, 2021	48 years, 11 months, 23 days	United States	Sentenced to life for murder and Maine's longest serving prisoner.[152][153] Paul died in March 2021.[154]
Melvin Thomas Mott	March 5, 1965	February 19, 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.[155]
John Joseph Kenny	June 18, 1974	ongoing	49 years, 224 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.[156]
Elmer Wayne Henley	July 16, 1974	ongoing	49 years, 196 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.
Danny Arthur Ranes	September 8, 1973	January 29, 2022	48 years, 143 days	United States	Serial killer serving life without parole for the murders of four women. He is also the brother of fellow serial killer Larry Ranes.[157] Danny Ranes died in January 2022.[158]
Staf Van Eyken	1974	ongoing	48 years	Belgium	Convicted for 3 murders.[159][160]
Earl David Inge	April 1975	ongoing	48 years, 302 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.[161][162] Inge was up for parole in 2020 but was denied.[163][161][164][165]
John McHugh	May 1975	ongoing	48 years, 272 days	United Kingdom	Jailed for the violent murder of a waiter.[166]
Harvey Carignan	1975	March 2023	48 years	United States	American serial killer who committed crimes in three different states. He was captured in 1974 and sentenced in 1975, remaining in prison until his death in 2023, aged 95.
Charles Dennis Easly	April 8, 1975	June 25, 2023	48 years, 78 days	United States	Convicted of the murder of two girls in Grayson County, Texas in September 1969 and April 1970.[167][168]
Joe Remiro	June 27, 1975	ongoing	48 years, 215 days	United States	Last remaining incarcerated member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, serving a life sentence for one murder.
Harry Roberts	November 15, 1966	November 11, 2014	47 years, 361 days	United Kingdom	Convicted of the murder of three policemen in Shepherd's Bush, London. Evaded police for 96 days before being arrested.
Patrick David Mackay	November 1975	ongoing	48 years, 88 days	United Kingdom	British serial killer who confessed to murdering 11 people in London and Kent in England, 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]
Richard Palumbo	October 25, 1972	April 19, 2020	47 years, 177 days	United States	Convicted of a June 26, 1971, First Degree murder, Unarmed Robbery and Breaking & Entering a Building With Intent. Died in prison on April 19, 2020, at age 71.[169][170][171]
William Pierce Jr.	February 1973	May 2020	47 years, 120 days	United States	Robber turned serial killer who murdered nine people in South Carolina after being paroled in 1970. He died in prison in May 2020.[172]
James Ryan O'Neill	1975	ongoing	47 years	Australia	Australian convicted murderer and suspected serial killer, currently serving a life sentence in Tasmania for a murder he committed in February 1975. 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 through to the murder that he was imprisoned for in 1975. He is currently Tasmania's longest-serving prisoner for a single offence.
Sundiata Acoli	1974	May 25, 2022	47 years	United States	Former Black Panther Party finance minister and Black Liberation Army member sentenced to life plus 30 years for the murder of a State Trooper during a shootout at the New Jersey Turnpike. He was accompanied by Zayd Shakur, who was killed in the shooting, and Assata Shakur who was also imprisoned for the murder but escaped in 1979 and was granted political asylum in Cuba. He was granted parole in May 2022.[173]
David Bennett	1974	March 16, 2021	47 years	United States	Juvenile lifer in Michigan who at age 17 stabbed a woman to death in 1972. He was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole.[174] However on March 8, 2021, he was resentenced to 40 to 110 years and was released eight days later.[175][176]
Edward Schwartz	November 2, 1973	October 8, 2020	46 years, 341 days	Canada	Sentenced to life in prison for aggravated assault, non-capital murder, overcoming resistance, possessing a weapon or imitation, and public mischief and robbery.[177][178]
Bobby Sneed	April 24, 1975	January 7, 2022	46 years, 258 days	United States	Sentenced to life in prison for his role as a lookout in the June 13, 1974, robbery and murder of Curtis E. Jones. Jones was released from prison.[179][180][181][182]
John Shaw	September 26, 1976	ongoing	47 years, 124 days	Ireland	English national who, aged 29, abducted, raped, tortured and murdered two Irish women, Elizabeth Plunkett (22) in Wicklow and Mary Duffy (24) in Mayo. His accomplice Geoffrey Evans was imprisoned from 1976 until his death in 2012.[183][184]
Charles Manson	April 22, 1971	November 19, 2017	46 years, 6 months, 27 days	United States	Leader of the Manson Family.
Pietro Acciarito	May 29, 1897[185]	December 4, 1943[185]	46 years, 6 months, 5 days	Italy	Attempted assassin of Umberto I of Italy. Sentence spent entirely in solitary confinement.
Ernest DesRoches	June 14, 1974	November 13, 2020	46 years, 4 months, 29 days	Canada	Was convicted of the murders of his neighbours in 1974.[186] He received additional sentences over the years, including for taking a pair of correctional officers hostage.[187] He was denied parole in 2011 and 2013[188] and he died on November 13, 2020, after a short illness.[189]
William H Matthews	February 4, 1977	ongoing	46 years, 358 days	United States	Convicted in New Jersey of raping and murdering a 20-year-old college student a month before she was due to be married.[190]
Rudolf Hess	May 10, 1941	August 17, 1987	46 years, 3 months, 7 days	United Kingdom  West Berlin	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 at the age of 93. He was the last prisoner of Spandau prison, and after his suicide, it was demolished and rebuilt as a shopping centre for British forces.
Juan Corona	January 18, 1973	March 4, 2019	46 years, 1 month, 14 days	United States	Mexican serial killer nicknamed "the Machete Murderer", who killed 25 itinerant workers and buried them in fruit orchards of northern California. Died in prison.
Richard Tobias Delage	April 18, 1977	ongoing	46 years, 285 days	United States	Convicted of the murders of two university students committed in 1960 and 1969, respectively, he remains a suspect in a similar double murder in Pennsylvania for which he was never charged.[191]
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
Leotha Brown	1964	2010	46 years	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Louisiana who served a life sentence for murder.[192][193] He died in 2010.[194]
John Black	December 4, 1925	October 6, 1971	45 years, 10 months	United States	Convicted of murder in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1925, he was paroled in 1971 aged 77.[195]
Richard Phillips	1973	2018	45 years, 7 months	United States	Sentenced to life without parole for a fatal shooting in Detroit in 1971. The case was "based almost entirely" on false testimony by one witness. Exonerated due to the intervention of the University of Michigan's Innocence Clinic and awarded $1.5 million by the state in 2019.[196]
Iwao Hakamada	September 11, 1968	March 27, 2014	45 years, 197 days	Japan	Spent entirely in death row. See below.
Brent Eugene Koster	July 21, 1975	January 21, 2021	45 years, 184 days	United States	Michigan serial killer.[197] He was granted parole in 2020 and was released on January 21, 2021.[198][199]
Ronald DeFeo Jr.	November 21, 1975	March 12, 2021	45 years, 111 days	United States	Perpetrator of the Amityville family murders.
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 16 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.
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.
Kamal Thabet Abdul Majid	1973	2018	45 years	Egypt	Sentenced to 60 years for the murders of his uncle and grandfather, and of his father's murderer (whom he met in prison) when he was 20 years old. Pardoned.[200]
David Owen Brooks	1975	May 28, 2020	45 years	United States	Second accomplice of Dean Corll. Died in prison; his last parole was denied in 2015.[201]
Warren Harris	October 1977	ongoing	45 years	United States	Serial killer who, as a teenager, fatally stabbed four people, three of whom were gay men, in New Orleans' French Quarter from February to April 1977. Convicted for three of the murders, he was given three consecutive life terms without parole.
Leonard Peltier	1977	ongoing	45 years	United States	American Indian Movement activist; convicted of killing two Federal agents in 1975. Escaped & recaptured in 1979. Last denied clemency in 2017, and scheduled for release no earlier than 2035.
Terrance Alden	1977	ongoing	45 years	United States	Known as the "Bionic Bandit", convicted in 1977 of five bank robberies in the Saint Louis, Missouri area after having escaped from Trenton State Prison while serving a murder conviction.[202]
Wilbert Jones	February 6, 1973	November 15, 2017	44 years, 9 months, 9 days	United States	Sentenced to life for sexual assault, case later reviewed and he was exonerated in 2018.[203]
Dennis Whitney	1960	April 24, 2005	44 years, 9 months	United States	Embarked on a cross country killing spree between February and March 1960, resulting in seven deaths.[204]
Otis Johnson	1970	August 2014	44 years, 8 months	United States	Member of the Fruit of Islam, the paramilitary wing of the Nation of Islam, sentenced to 44 years in prison for the attempted murder of a police officer when he was 25, and 8 months for a shoplifting charge when he was 17.[205][206][207]
Magdelaine Chapelain	1679	1724	44 years, six months	France	Parisian fortune-teller involved in the Affair of the Poisons. Died in prison.
Kim Sŏn-myŏng	1951	1995	44 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.
Thomas Hagan	1966	March 19, 2010	44 years	United States	Assassin of Malcolm X. Since 1988 he was on a work release program under minimum security. Paroled.
Sharon Wiggins	1969	2013	44 years	United States	Longest juvenile female serving life without parole. Sentenced to death for a fatal bank robbery when she was 17 years old, commuted to life in prison without parole in 1972.
William Garrison	1976	2020	44 years	United States	Was jailed for life at the age of 16 for the murder of a 50-year-old man during a home invasion. Died from COVID-19 just 24 days before he was likely to be released.[208]
Ronnie Long	1976	2020	44 years	United States	Was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury of the rape of a white woman when he, an African-American man, was 20. He was exonerated in 2020.[209]
Anthony Blanks	1978	ongoing	44 years	United States	Blanks killed a police officer in New York in 1976. He was convicted in 1978 and was granted parole in 2022.[210]
John J. Palm	1937	1981	44 years	United States	Convicted of killing a deputy sheriff in 1937 and was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Connecticut Governor Wilbur L. Cross.[211]
Freddy Horion	1979	ongoing	44 years, 216 days	Belgium	Convicted for 6 murders.[212][213]

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
Pietro Acciarito	May 29, 1897	December 4, 1943	46 years, six months, 5 days	Italy	See above.
Walerian Łukasiński	1822	1868	46 years	Congress Poland  Russia	See above.
Hugo Pinell	1969	2015	46 years	United States	Murdered by another inmate two weeks after his solitary confinement was lifted.
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 at USP Leavenworth.
Mark David Chapman	August 24, 1981	ongoing	42 years, 157 days	United States	Placed in solitary confinement after pleading guilty to murdering John Lennon on December 8, 1980.
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.
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.

30–39 years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
Robert Maudsley	1978	ongoing	38+ years	United Kingdom	Serial killer imprisoned in 1977. Placed in a specially-built solitary cell after killing three other prisoners.
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]

20–29 years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
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.
Yolanda Saldívar	1995	ongoing	28 years, 94 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.
Luis Felipe	1997[214]	ongoing	26 years, 348 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.
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.[215][216]
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	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.[217][218]
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.[219]
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.
Anthony Gay	1994	2016	22 years	United States	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.[220]
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.
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 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.[221]

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.[221]
Viktor Ilyin	1969	1988	19 years	Soviet Union	Attempted assassin of Leonid Brezhnev. Released in 1990.[citation needed]
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.
Wazir Ali Khan	December 1799	May 15, 1817	17 years	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.
Mordechai Vanunu	1987	March 12, 1998	11 years	Israel	Israel nuclear whistleblower

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
Tommy Zeigler	July 16, 1976	ongoing	47 years, 196 days	United States	Quadruple murder of Eunice Zeigler, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and Charlie Mays. He is Florida's longest serving death row inmate.[222]
Virgil Delano Presnell Jr.	October 19, 1976	ongoing	47 years, 101 days	United States	Longest serving death row inmate in Georgia.[223] Sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl.[224][225]
Richard Gerald Jordan	March 2, 1977	ongoing	46 years, 332 days	United States	Sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of a woman in Mississippi. Jordan is Mississippi's longest serving death row inmate.[226]
James Franklin Rose	May 13, 1977	ongoing	46 years, 260 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.[227]
Harvey Earvin	October 26, 1977	ongoing	46 years, 94 days	United States	Longest held prisoner on death row in Texas. Sentenced to death for shooting and killing a service station attendant in 1976.[228][229]
Iwao Hakamada	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.
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.[230] He was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 9, 2021.[231]
Clarence Curtis Jordan	September 12, 1978	Ongoing	45 years, 138 days	United States	Sentenced for the 1977 murder of a market clerk in Texas.[232]
Arturo Daniel Aranda	May 18, 1979	Ongoing	44 years, 255 days	United States	Sentenced for the 1976 murder of a police officer in Texas.[233]
Albert Greenwood Brown	March 2, 1982	ongoing	41 years, 332 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.
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.[234]
Patrick McKenna	1980	April 19, 2021	41 years	United States	Spent most of his adult life in prison for various violent crimes, and was sentenced to death for the murder of his cellmate.[235]
Douglas Stankewitz	October 12, 1978	May 3, 2019	40 years, 203 days	United States	Oldest 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.[236] Retried a third time and sentenced to life in prison without parole.[237]
Thomas Eugene Creech	January 1, 1983	ongoing	41 years, 27 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.
Ronald Allen Smith	March 22, 1983	ongoing	40 years, 312 days	United States	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.
Doug Clark	March 24, 1983	October 11, 2023	40 years, 200.5 days	United States	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 M. Bundy, died in prison in 2003. Clark died of natural causes at a medical facility in 2023.[238]
George Banks	June 22, 1983	ongoing	40 years, 220 days	United States	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.
Michael Morales	June 30, 1983	ongoing	40 years, 212 days	United States	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 26, 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.

30–39 years

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description
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 changed to life in prison on December 19, 2019.[239][240]
Murray Hooper	February 11, 1983	November 16, 2022	39 years, 278 days	United States	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, despite his guilt being questioned by certain officials.[241][242]
Malcolm Robbins	May 12, 1983	January 27, 2023	39 years, 260 days	United States	Sentenced to death in 1983 for first degree murder in Santa Barbara County, California.[243]
Gary Alvord	April 9, 1974	May 19, 2013	39 years, 40 days	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.
Lawrence Bittaker	March 24, 1981	December 13, 2019	38 years, 264 days	United States	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	United States	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.[244]
William Theodore Boliek Jr.	December 11, 1984	ongoing	39 years, 48 days	United States	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.[245][246][247][248]
Richard Delmer Boyer	December 14, 1984	ongoing	39 years, 45 days	United States	Fatally stabbed an elderly couple.
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.[249]
Kevin Cooper	May 21, 1985	ongoing	38 years, 252 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.
Douglas Stewart Carter	December 27, 1985	ongoing	38 years, 32 days	United States	Killed an elderly woman during a burglary in Provo, Utah. Assigned lethal injection.
Michael Owen Perry	January 8, 1986	ongoing	38 years, 20 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.[250]
Gerald Ross Pizzuto Jr.	May 1, 1986	ongoing	37 years, 272 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, despite being terminally ill.[251][252] He was granted a stay of execution on May 18, 2021, until a commutation hearing in November 2021.[253]
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.
Tiequon Cox	May 7, 1986	ongoing	37 years, 266 days	United States	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.
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.[254]
Brandon Astor Jones	October 17, 1979	February 3, 2016	36 years, 109 days	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.[255]
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 couldn't find a suitable vein. He died in prison from COVID-19 complications on December 28, 2020.[256][257][258]
Ralph Leroy Menzies	March 23, 1988	ongoing	35 years, 311 days	United States	Abducted and strangled a female gas station attendant in Kearns, Utah. Requested death by firing squad.
David Carpenter	May 10, 1988	ongoing	35 years, 263 days	United States	Known as the "Trailside Killer", killed at least ten hikers and attacked another one in state parks near San Francisco. He was attributed to a 1979 murder after a DNA match in December 2009.
David Allen Raley	May 24, 1988	ongoing	35 years, 249 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	ongoing	35 years, 213 days	United States	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.
Edmund Zagorski	March 27, 1984	November 1, 2018	34 years, 219 days	United States	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	United States	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.
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.[259][260]
Pervis Tyrone Payne	February 16, 1988	November 18, 2021	33 years, 275 days	United States	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.[261] In September 2020, DNA testing was ordered to investigate his claims of innocence.[262] Payne was resentenced to two concurrent life sentences on January 31, 2022.
Cynthia Coffman	August 31, 1989	ongoing	34 years, 150 days	United States	Convicted along with her boyfriend James Marlow of 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					Convicted along with his girlfriend Cynthia Coffman of the murders of four women from October to November 1986.
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	United States	Murdered his wife with a wrench in Georgia. Executed by lethal injection.
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	United States	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	United States	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]
Robert Brian Waterhouse	September 3, 1980	February 5, 2012	31 years, 155 days	United States	Murdered and mutilated a woman in Florida while he was on parole from a life sentence for murder. Executed in 2012.[265]
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.[266]