List of longest prison sentences

This is a list of longest prison sentences ever given to a single person, worldwide. Listed are instances where people have been sentenced to jail terms in excess of a human lifetime.

These differ technically from sentences of life imprisonment in that the designated jail times have specific lengths, although in practical terms they may serve the same purpose.

Longest prison sentences

Name	Sentence start	Sentence term	Country	Description
Chamoy Thipyaso	1989	141,078 years	Thailand  Thailand	In 1989, the world's longest sentence for corporate fraud of 141,078 years was handed down to Chamoy Thipyaso in Thailand according to Guinness World Records 2006. She defrauded more than 16,000 Thais in a pyramid scheme worth $204 million at the time.[1]
Otman el-Gnaoui	2007	42,924 years	Spain  Spain	Sentenced for their roles in the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Under Spanish law, the maximum sentence that any of them can serve is 40 years.[2]
Jamal Zougam		42,922 years
Emilio Suárez Trashorras		34,715 years
Charles Scott Robinson	1994	30,000 years	United States  United States	On December 23, 1994, Oklahoma child rapist Charles Scott Robinson received the longest jail term to a single American on multiple counts — 5,000 years for each of the six counts against him.[3]
Allan Wayne McLaurin	1994	20,750 years	United States  United States	Darron Bennalford Anderson's accomplice, McLaurin, was sentenced to 21,250 years, but upon appeal, his sentence was reduced by 500 years.[4]
Dudley Wayne Kyzer	1981	10,000 years	United States  United States	On December 4, 1981, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama,[5] Dudley Wayne Kyzer was sentenced to imprisonment for 10,000 years for killing his wife. At the time, this was the longest sentence given in the United States. Kyzer was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Diane Kyzer, his mother-in-law, Eunice Barringer, and college student Rick Pyron who just happened to be at the Barringer home on Halloween in 1976. He was also given life sentences for each of the crimes in addition to the 10,000 years. The judge justified his verdict in the name of the brutality of the murders. He has been denied parole 10 times, the most recent being in 2016.[6] The court decided that the brutality with which he had slaughtered his spouse more than merited such a long sentence.[5][7] In 2004, he was denied parole.[8]
Martin Bryant	1996	35 life sentences + 1,035 years without parole	Australia  Australia	Martin John Bryant is an Australian mass murderer who pleaded guilty to murdering 35 people and injuring 23 others in the Port Arthur massacre, a shooting spree in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia on 28 April 1996.[9] On November 21, 1996, Bryant was sentenced by Tasmanian Chief Justice William Cox to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for each murder, and an additional 1,035 years for wounding 23 people, shooting at 14 other people with the intention to kill, four counts of theft of a motor vehicle, three counts of arson and one of kidnapping.
James Eagan Holmes	2015	12 life sentences + 3,318 years without parole	United States  United States	James Eagan Holmes is a mass murderer guilty of perpetrating the 2012 Aurora shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. The shooting killed 12 people, and injured 70 others. He was given 12 life sentences for each murder, and an additional 3,318 years in prison for numerous counts of attempted murder, one count of possessing an illegal explosive device, and one sentence enhancement of a crime of violence.[10]
Billy Joe Godfrey	2015	35 consecutive life sentences	United States  United States	Billy Joe Godfrey, 52, was charged with 35 counts of statutory sodomy in the 1st degree, garnering 35 consecutive life sentences, which is the equivalent of 1050 years in prison. Godfrey plead guilty to sexually abusing two children between 1995 and 1999. The children were between the ages of eight and 13 at the time of the assaults. Both victims came forward October 2014, and Godfrey later confessed to the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department.[11][12]
Bobbie Joe Long	1984	28 life sentences + 99 years plus 1 death sentence	United States  United States	Bobbie Joe Long from Florida is a serial killer guilty of raping more than 50 women and killing more than 25 of them. He was sentenced with 28 life sentences, an additional 99 years of imprisonment and a death sentence.[13] He had raped more than 50 women and killed about half the number. In most cases they were raped before murder. He attended an underwater welding course and answered classified ads for small appliances, and if he found a woman alone at home, he would rape her. He was intersex with an extra X chromosome which resulted in him growing breasts after puberty. With this and the added trauma of the dysfunctional relationship he had with his mother as an adolescent is often remarked as the reason for his crimes.[6][7]
David Hall	2015	825 years	United States  United States	In 2015, David Hall, of Port Orange, Florida, was convicted of 10 counts of promoting child pornography and 45 counts of possession of child pornography. David Hall had created an online blog that was trading child pornography. He was sentenced to the maximum 15 years per count each running consecutive totaling 825 years. The Court decided the defendants prior record and the fact that he was actively trading child pornography more than warranted the sentence. David Hall, a registered sex offender, had previously been convicted in 1996 of attempted sexual assault on a 7 year old child.[14][15]
Juana Barraza	2008	759 years	Mexico  Mexico	Juana Barraza (born 27 December 1957) is a Mexican serial killer dubbed La Mataviejitas (Sp. "The Old Lady Killer") sentenced to 759 years in jail for killing eleven elderly women. The authorities and the press have given various estimates as to the total number of the killer's victims, with totals ranging from 24 to 49 deaths. All of Barraza's victims were women aged 60 or over, most of whom lived alone. She bludgeoned or strangled her victims, and afterward would rob them. She was apprehended on January 25, 2006 and was sentenced in 2008. Prior to her arrest, Barraza was a professional wrestler under the ring name of La Dama del Silencio (The Silent Lady).
Darrell Wayne Delp	2014	755 years	United States  United States	Darrell Wayne Delp, 37, was found guilty during a July bench trial on 50 counts of producing child pornography and 10 counts of aggravated sexual battery.[16][17]
Juan Corona	1973	25 life sentences	United States  United States	In 1973, in the state of California, the Mexican American serial killer Juan Corona murdered 25 farm workers who worked for him. In a span of one year, between 1970 and 1971, he had killed 25 migrant workers who worked for him and had their remains buried. For this act that questioned human nature, he was sentenced to 25 consecutive life imprisonments for the 25 lives he took.[6]
Chester Stiles	2009	21 consecutive life sentences	United States  United States	Former Siegfried & Roy trainer Chester Stiles made a video of himself raping and sexually abusing a two-year-old girl in 2003 but surfaced in the Pahrump, Nevada desert in 2007. On May 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 21 life sentences, on 10 counts of lewdness with a child under the age of 14, 11 counts of sexual assault with a minor under 14, and one count of attempted sexual assault with a minor under 14 for sexually molesting two girls, ages 2 and 6, in 2003. 19 charges were tied directly to what was seen in the tape. The other three charges pertained to the assault of the 6-year-old girl, who wasn't taped. He will be eligible for parole in 140 years.[18][19]
Darron Bennalford Anderson	1994	11,250 years	United States  United States	"The greatest amount of jail time given as a result of an appeal" went to Darron Bennalford Anderson from Oklahoma, who was found guilty in 1994 of crimes ranging from rape of an elderly woman in Tulsa County, to larceny, robbery and kidnapping and sentenced to 2,200 years. He appealed, was reconvicted, re-sentenced and received an additional jail term of 9,000 years, later reduced by 500 years.[6] Anderson's original sentence was 2,200 years, however, he appealed and won a new trial. His second trial also ended in conviction, but this time, the jury sentenced Anderson to 11,250 years, resulting in a further 6,300 years being added to his sentence.[3] On July 23, 1997, when he appealed again, he got the parole date for the year 12,744 AD.[7]
Ariel Castro	2013	Life plus 1,000 years	United States  United States	Ariel Castro, a 53-year-old former school bus driver, abducted Michelle Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23 from the Cleveland streets between 2002 and 2004. DeJesus was 14 years old when she disappeared, Amanda Berry was 16, and Michelle Knight, 21.[20] Castro fathered a six-year-old daughter child with Amanda Berry.[21] He kept his victims chained up and repeatedly raped them.[22] The three women escaped from Castro's home on May 6, 2013, when Amanda Berry broke part of a door of the Cleveland home and yelled to neighbors for help.[20] Castro pleaded guilty to the 937 charges against him, including multiple counts of kidnapping, rape and aggravated murder in connection with the beating of a pregnant captive until she miscarried. A deal with prosecutors spared him a possible death penalty.[20] On August 1, 2013, he was imprisoned for life without parole plus 1,000 years.[22] On September 3, 2013, the convicted kidnapper and rapist was found in his cell, hanging from a bed sheet fashioned as a noose.[4][20] He died in hospital later that day, after prison medical staff failed to revive him.[20]
Shawn Ryan Thomas	2015	885 years	United States  United States	Possession of child pornography.[23]
Sholam Weiss	2000	845 years	United States  United States	On February 15, 2000, Shalom Weiss was found guilty for his participation in the bankruptcy of National Heritage Life Insurance Corporation of New York. After robbing investors of their money and featuring in the FBI most wanted list, he was caught and was sentenced for 845 years. He appealed for a lesser punishment but was denied.[7][13]
Mark Anthony Beecham	2012	624 years	United States  United States	On August 14, 2012, 25-year-old Mark Anthony Beecham was given 99 years each for six counts, which included first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree rape and three counts of first-degree sodomy—plus 20 years for felony first-degree theft of property and 10 more for felony first-degree bail jumping.[3]
–	Joseph Baldino	2014	525 years	United States  United States	On Oct 3 2014, a St. Lucie County Circuit Court jury convicted Joseph Baldino of one count of soliciting for sex over the internet, four counts of transmitting child pornography over the internet and 100 counts of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced by Judge Vaughn to five years in prison for each of the 105 counts he was convicted of, and the judge ordered that Baldino serve the sentences consecutively, adding up to 525 years in state prison.[24]
Guillermo Ocampo	2009	480 years	United States  United States	Guillermo Ocampo was sentenced to 480 years for drugging and sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl. A jury convicted Ocampo of 13 felony counts including four counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child, and five counts of lewd acts on a child.[25]
Dwayne Whitaker	2014	439 years	United States  United States	On May 5, 2014, Dwayne Whitaker was sentenced to 439 years to life in prison in connection with a series of burglaries, robberies and attacks against senior citizens in the Nob Hill area of San Francisco in July and August 2008. The 51-year-old was found guilty on two counts of first degree burglary, one count of first degree robbery, one count of attempted robbery, two counts of assault and elder abuse.[26][27]
Norman Schmidt	2008	330 years	United States  United States	Norman Schmidt promised attractive high rates to hundreds of investors and robbed them of millions of dollars. He used this money to cover personal expenses and to lead a life of luxury instead of investing as he promised.[7] On April 29, 2008, US District Judge Robert E. Blackburn sentenced him to 330 years of imprisonment after he was found guilty of fraud and money laundering.[28]
Kirby Anthony	1987	357 years	United States  United States	Brutally raped and murdered a mother and her two very young daughters in their apartment in Anchorage, Alaska. The victims turned out to be relatives of Anthony.
Jeffrey Kollie, and Ryan Brandt	1996	7 consecutive life sentences	United States  United States	In 1996, Georgians Jeffrey Kollie and Ryan Brandt were both sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences and 265 years each for committing armed robbery. The sentence was the longest in the entire history of Georgia. If they had pled guilty, they would have received only a 40-year prison sentence.[7][13]
Daniel Holtzclaw	2016	263 years	United States  United States	Sentenced for his role in abusing women while on patrol duty.[29]
Eyad Ismoil	1995	240 years	United States  United States	Sentenced for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[30][31]
Velupillai Prabhakaran	2002	200 years	Sri Lanka  Sri Lanka	In 2002, Velupillai Prabhakaran, a founder and leader of guerrilla army Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that waged a 26-year war in Sri Lanka, was sentenced in absentia to 200 years in prison for planning a truck bombing on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka that killed 91 people and injured 300 on January 31, 1996.[32][33]
Keith O Wood	2008	160 years	United States  United States	Keith O Wood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was found guilty of raping five women in a year from 2000 to 2001 and was sentenced to 160 years in prison.[13] The convict would enter the house through unlocked windows and threaten to kill them and then rape them.[7] Even when the DNA evidence proved him guilty in all the five cases he pled not guilty. However, the court ruled against him taking into consideration the fact that the chance of someone else matching the DNA was one in a billion billion.[7]
Bernard Madoff	2009	150 years	United States  United States	In 2008, Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was unraveled and he had to give up his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, a beach house in Montauk, N.Y, his homes in Florida, and France, as well as a yacht named "The Bull".[34] Madoff admitted defrauding thousands of investors in a Ponzi scheme which he said had been running since the early 1990s.[35] Madoff siphoned $65 billion from thousands of investors, wiping them out in a long-running, pyramid-style deception.[34] In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud, theft and money laundering. Assistant US attorney, Marc Litt, had been pressing for 150 years, due to the "scope, duration and nature" of the fraud. Madoff's lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, had called for leniency and was hoping to keep the sentence as low as 12 years, asking the judge to "set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case."[36] On June 29, 2009, District Judge Denny Chin condemned his crimes as "extraordinarily evil" and imposed a 150-year prison sentence that was three times as long as the federal probation office suggested and more than 10 times as long as defense lawyers had requested.[37]
Dwight York	2004	135 years	United States  United States	Dwight York, leader of the Nuwaubian Nation religious group was convicted of child molestation and financial crimes. The victims were members of his sect, which he moved from a mosque in Brooklyn to an Egyptian-themed compound in Putnam County, Georgia in 1993.[38][39]
Pedro Rodrigues Filho	2003	128 years	Brazil  Brazil	At the age of 14, he murdered the vice-Mayor of Alfenas, Minas Gerais, because he fired his father, a school guard, at the time accused of stealing the school kitchen's food. Then he murdered another guard, supposedly the real thief. He took refuge in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, where he began a series of burglaries and murdered a drug dealer. There he also met Maria Aparecida Olympia, a woman he then lived with. They lived together until she was killed by some gang members. Filho escaped. In search of revenge for her death, he murdered and tortured several people in an attempt to find out the identity of the gangster who killed Olympia. Before he was 18 years old he had already left a trail of 10 bodies and several injured. Still in Mogi das Cruzes, he executed his own father at a local prison, after his father butchered his mother with a machete. To get revenge, Filho killed his father, cut out a piece of his heart, chewed it, and threw it away. Filho was first arrested on May 24, 1973. He was sentenced to prison and killed at least 47 inmates while incarcerated. He later claimed a total of 100 victims. His total confirmed victims are 71, including his father. In 2003, he was sentenced to 128 years in prison, although Brazilian law system prohibits anyone from spending more than 30 years behind bars. But due to the crimes he committed inside the prison, his sentence was changed to over 400 years in prison. However, he was set to be released by the Justice System in 2007, and after 34 years in prison, he was released on April 24, 2007. Information from the Brazilian National Security Force Intel indicates that he went to Brazilian north-east, more precisely, to Fortaleza in Ceará. On September 15, 2011, local media from Santa Catarina published that Filho had been arrested at his home, in the rural area, where he worked as a house-keeper, at Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina coastline. According to a news channel, he will serve time for accusations such as riot and false imprisonment. Besides the number of killings, Filho became notorious in Brazil for promising the murder of other criminals, such as Francisco de Assis Pereira, a.k.a. The Park Maniac, another serial killer.

* indicates proposed sentence

See also

• List of prisoners with whole-life tariffs

External links

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

References

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3. Hubbard, Amy (August 15, 2012). "Top 10 Longest Prison Sentences in the World". Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
4. Banner, Adam (September 14, 2013). "Ariel Castro's 1,000 Year Sentence Isn't the Longest Sentence on Record". The Huffington Post. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
5. Nixon, David (June 28, 2013). "The 6 Longest Prison Sentences Ever Given". Insider Monkey. p. 5. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
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10. James Eagan Holmes
11. Satterfield, Kolbie. "Rolla man is sentenced to 35 life terms in prison". KOMU. KOMU. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
12. PHELPADMIN. "Billy Godfrey, 52, of Rolla Receives 35 Life Sentences". Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney Brendon Fox. Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney Office. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
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14. http://newsdaytonabeach.com/port-orange-sex-offender-sentenced-to-825-years-in-prison/
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17. "Campbell County man gets 755-year sentence for child sex crimes". The News & Advance. December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
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19. McCoy, Cara (May 30, 2009). "Stiles tells judge punishment too harsh". Las Vegas: Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
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21. Walker, Tim (August 1, 2013). "Ariel Castro sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison for abduction of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight". The Independent. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
22. "Ariel Castro is sentenced for Cleveland abductions". BBC News. August 1, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
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34. Smith, Aaron (May 16, 2013). "Prison exclusive: Bernie Madoff can't sleep". CCN Money. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
35. "Fraudster Madoff gets 150 years". BBC News. June 29, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
36. Teather, David (June 30, 2009). "Fraudster Madoff gets 150 years". The Guardian. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
37. Henriques, Diana B. (June 29, 2009). "Madoff Is Sentenced to 150 Years for Ponzi Scheme". New York: The New York Times. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
38. Hart, Ariel (April 23, 2004). "National Briefing - South: Georgia: Sect Leader Sentenced". New York: The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
39. Gallagher, Eugene V. (2004). The New Religious Movements Experience in America. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0313328072.