List of longest prison sentences served
Prisoners who served more than sixty years

List of longest prison sentences served

Section Title: Prisoners who served more than sixty years
Table Section Text: None

Name	Sentence start	Sentence end	Sentence duration	Country	Description

Charles Fossard	1903	1974	70 years, 303 days	Australia	Homeless French Australian recluded in the J Ward mental asylum in Ararat, Victoria after murdering an elderly man and stealing his boots.

Francis Clifford Smith	7 June 1950	ongoing	68 years, 325 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.

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.

John Phillips	17 July 1952	ongoing	66 years, 285 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in North Carolina. Convicted for the rape of a five-year-old girl.

Johnson Van Dyke Grigsby	1908	1974	66 years, 123 days	United States	Sentenced to life in prison for murder, he 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.

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.

Joseph Ligon	1953	ongoing	65 years, 131 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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

Walter H. Bourque Jr.	1955	ongoing	63 years, 138 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	63 years, 77 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.

Hugh Alderman	1917	1980	62 years, 192 days	United States	Longest serving prisoner in Florida. Escaped twice in 1919 and 1924.

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.

Sentence(s)

Paul Geidel Jr. was the longest-serving prison inmate in the United States, whose sentence ended with his parole.

final_sentence: Paul Geidel Jr. was the longest-serving prison inmate in the United States, whose sentence ended with his parole.