The Craziest and Longest Prison Sentences in History

VIVA – For someone who breaks the law, staying in prison is one of the toughest punishments. Prison is intended as a punishment, deterrent, or rehabilitation for someone who makes a mistake.

Usually, the sentence in prison ranges from months, years, and decades to the death penalty. However, it turns out that in this world there are the craziest and longest prison sentences, depending on the mistakes made. Here are some of the craziest and longest prison sentences in the world, as quoted from toptenz.net:

1. Chamoy Thipyaso, Thailand (141,000 Years for Fraud)

One of the business executives in Thailand, Chamoy Thipyaso was found guilty of running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of people. He received the longest prison sentence in history and entered the Guinness Book of World Records.

Because of her position in the oil industry and the fact that her husband was a high-ranking military official, people thought her potential investment opportunity had military backing and was growing, so over 16,000 invested $204 million. Even members of the Thai royal family were duped.

Then, finally, Thipyaso was found guilty and had to stay in prison for 141,078 years.

2. Terry Nichols, United States (161 Life Sentences)

Terry Nichols was convicted of the Oklahoma City Bombing. He was sentenced to 161 consecutive sentences. One life sentence without the possibility of parole for every person killed in his attack. This happened after the death penalty was lifted.

James Holmes was a mass murderer who killed 12 people in Aurora, Colorado in 2012 and injured 70 others. He was given 12 life sentences, one for each person he killed, but the judge did not do so. He intended to kill everyone and related to explosives; he was sentenced to an additional 3,318 years.

The sentence was broken down to 48 years plus five paroles for each attempted murder plus 96 years for second-degree murder, and six years for explosives.

Abdullah Al-Barghouthi was arrested for making bombs. He was detained by Israeli forces and charged with seven different bomb attacks.

Following a military tribunal in 2004, Al-Barghouti was sentenced to 67 life sentences resulting from the 67 deaths and about 500 injuries he is said to have caused. In addition, he was given another 5,200 years.

In 2011 it was reported he had spent his entire sentence up to that point in solitary confinement with no visitors allowed.

Bentura Flores was sentenced in 1973 for human trafficking. Disproportionate drugs penalties are nothing new, and there are ongoing efforts to have people in prison serving sentences on marijuana charges released because the drug is already legal in many states.

But Flores was charged with trafficking heroin which, despite being a much more dangerous drug, seems questionable as the man only sold $10 worth. Despite his misdemeanor, Flores was sentenced to 1,800 years in prison.

In Oklahoma, Larry D. Kiel ended up with 2,501 years for drug trafficking when he was sentenced in 1992. Part of that sentence included 250 years for possession of a controlled substance without a tax stamp and another 250 years for maintaining a vehicle in which the substance was controlled.

In the United States, Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was considered the most prolific in history. He pleaded guilty to 48 murders in 2003 although he confessed to having killed about 80. His confession was part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

A judge handed Ridgway 48 life sentences without the possibility of parole for each murder, to be served consecutively. The judge also added 10 years for each case of tampering with evidence, adding 480 years to the total sentence.

In 2011, the 49th victim was identified. Ridgway admitted to the murder as well and an additional life sentence was added to his total.

In 2019, Brenton Tarrant attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51 people and injuring dozens more. He was found guilty in court and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The full sentence, however, isn't technically just life imprisonment for Tarrant. In the judge's ruling, he instead sentenced Tarrant to life in prison for each of the 51 murder victims. The judge did not say this at the same time. He was also given 12 years for each of the 40 attempted murder cases although these had to be done simultaneously and not consecutively. He was later given an additional life sentence for committing acts of terrorism. So, he served 52 life sentences.

Darron Bennalford Anderson has one of the worst lawyers in American history to account for his prison sentence. Anderson was tried with his accomplice, Allen Wayne McLaurin, for rape in 1996. Both men were given harsh sentences.

On appeal, the judge agreed that Anderson had been wrongfully convicted. Instead of 2,200 years, Anderson was given 1,750 years for kidnapping, 2,000 years for each of the two counts of first-degree rape, and 2,000 years each on two more counts, 500 for robbery and 500 for grand theft. He managed to add more than 9,000 years to his sentence for a total of 11,250 years.

In 2004, a series of bombings in Madrid killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000. The ten bombs hidden in backpacks were hidden in four different commuter trains. There was a huge conspiracy behind the attack and several terrorist groups were suspected of being involved although it never seemed to work out during the investigation.

Some of the guilty received fairly light sentences of only 23 years, relatively speaking, and some were even acquitted. But not everyone just goes down. Three people, convicted of supplying explosives, were sentenced to thousands of years per piece. One is nearly 43,000 years old, and the other 35,000 years.

Unfortunately, this is also a punishment made for the show as Spanish law does not allow such a punishment to be carried out. The longest a man can serve is only 40 years.

Charles Scott Robinson has been a villain eight times. He has been convicted of a series of heinous crimes including rape and indecent or lewd acts with a child under 16. The victim was a three-year-old girl.

During the trial, many jurors disliked and were angry with the criminals who harmed these children. Additionally, Robinson's defense called the line a joke and suggested it was more about showing anger than anything else. He said it was based on the inaccurate perception that most criminals don't get enough time, though one imagines he would struggle to win sympathy for his clients under those special circumstances.