We have previously written about famous inventions created in prisons and extraordinary escape attempts by inmates. But some criminals have received sentences so long that no human being could possibly serve them in full.
Courts sometimes impose hundreds or even thousands of years in prison. This usually happens when a defendant is convicted of multiple offences and the sentences are added together, rather than served simultaneously.
From tens of thousands of years to multiple life sentences, here are ten remarkable examples of exceptionally long prison terms.
1 141,078 years
In 1989, a Thai court sentenced Chamoy Thipyaso and seven associates to an astonishing 141,078 years in prison for operating a massive financial fraud scheme. More than 16,000 people were reportedly defrauded through an investment operation that promised attractive returns. Despite the extraordinary sentence, Thai law limited the amount of time that could actually be served for this type of fraud. Thipyaso was released in 1993, after serving only a small fraction of her nominal sentence.
2 45,376 years and 6 months
In February 2025, a Turkish court sentenced Mehmet Aydın and his brother Fatih Aydın to 45,376 years and six months in prison each. They were convicted in connection with the Çiftlik Bank scheme, an online investment operation that defrauded thousands of people. The enormous sentence resulted from numerous separate fraud offences and other charges. The case became one of the most striking examples of an exceptionally long prison term in modern history.
3 30,000 years
In December 1994, an Oklahoma judge sentenced Charles Scott Robinson to 30,000 years in prison. He had been convicted on six counts involving the sexual assault of a young child. The jury recommended 5,000 years for each count, and the judge ordered the sentences to run consecutively. The extraordinary total was intended to ensure that Robinson would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
4 21,250 years
Allan Wayne McLaurin received an extraordinary sentence in Oklahoma following his conviction alongside Darron Anderson for a violent attack involving kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault. In 1996, McLaurin was sentenced to a total of 21,250 years in prison. His case is another example of how courts can accumulate separate sentences for multiple offences, producing a term that is impossible to serve in a normal human lifetime.
5 11,250 years
Darron Bennalford Anderson was convicted in Oklahoma for his involvement in a violent attack that included kidnapping, robbery, rape and assault. His case became particularly notorious because a successful appeal and subsequent retrial resulted in a much longer sentence. In 1996, he received a total of 11,250 years in prison. The case illustrates how a retrial can sometimes result in a dramatically harsher punishment.
6 10,000 years and two life sentences
In 1981, Dudley Wayne Kyzer received a 10,000-year prison sentence in Alabama for murdering his wife. He was also given two additional life sentences for the murders of his mother-in-law and a college student. According to Guinness World Records, his 10,000-year term is one of the longest single prison sentences ever imposed.
7 845 years
Sholam Weiss was sentenced to 845 years in prison in 2000 for his role in a major fraud scheme that contributed to the collapse of National Heritage Life Insurance Company in the United States. The scheme involved hundreds of millions of dollars and affected thousands of policyholders. His sentence was later reduced to 835 years, and in January 2021 it was commuted by President Donald Trump. Weiss was released from prison, although the commutation did not erase his conviction.
8 330 years
Norman Schmidt was sentenced to 330 years in federal prison in the United States in 2008 for operating a fraudulent high-yield investment scheme. He and his associates persuaded hundreds of investors to hand over tens of millions of dollars by promising extraordinary returns. Instead, much of the money was used for personal expenses and other purposes unrelated to the promised investments.
9 28 life sentences and one death sentence
Bobby Joe Long was a serial killer and rapist who terrorised the Tampa Bay area of Florida in 1984. He confessed to killing ten women and was convicted of numerous murders, kidnappings and sexual assaults. He received 28 life sentences and one death sentence. After spending more than three decades on death row, Long was executed by lethal injection in May 2019.
10 25 life sentences
Juan Corona was convicted of murdering 25 farm workers in California in one of the state’s most notorious serial murder cases. The victims were men who worked as seasonal labourers, and their bodies were discovered in shallow graves in orchards in 1971. After his original convictions were overturned, Corona was retried and convicted again in 1982. He received 25 life sentences and died in prison in 2019.
