30,000 years in prison, or Why the US gives sentences that are impossible to serve (5 photos)

You've probably seen news reports of criminals in the United States receiving life sentences or tens of thousands of years in prison. Naturally, they wouldn't be physically able to serve such a sentence, as they simply wouldn't live to see it.

But why, then, do federal and state laws provide for such preventive measures? Read our article to find out.





In the United States, there are no maximum prison terms for criminals convicted of multiple offenses. Moreover, if a person commits several crimes, the sentences for them are cumulative. So, some criminals receive sentences of several thousand years. But wouldn't it be simpler to commute them to the death penalty?



It turns out it's not simpler, since many US states have abolished the death penalty, but there is a minimum sentence after which a prisoner can apply for parole. This rule allows a particularly dangerous criminal to be released early. However, if their sentence includes multiple life sentences, even if they receive parole, they will immediately begin serving their next sentence.

In Oklahoma, for example, there is an "85% rule." According to this rule, a prisoner must serve at least 85% of their sentence before applying for parole. And if their sentence is several thousand years, parole is out of the question.

Longest Sentences in History





The Guinness Book of World Records-entry sentence was given to rapist Charles Scott Robinson. A jury insisted that an Oklahoma district judge sentence the criminal to 5,000 years in prison for each proven count of child rape. Robinson thus received a total of 30,000 years in prison, with the stipulation that all sentences must be served consecutively.

In 1996, Allan Wayne McLaurin was sentenced to 12,750 years in prison in Oklahoma. The man was accused of kidnapping, rape, and robbery. McLaurin had an accomplice, Darron Anderson. Back in 1993, the criminal received a 2,200-year sentence. But Anderson was dissatisfied with the sentence and requested a retrial.

After re-examining the incidents involving the man, the judge sentenced Darron to 11,000 years in prison. One of the inmate's subsequent appeals resulted in his life being shaved off half a millennium.



"Killer Clown" John Wayne Gacy is among the most ruthless serial killers in history. In the 1970s, a man kidnapped, raped, and murdered 33 young men, for which he received 12 death sentences and 21 life sentences.

In 1994, one of Gacy's executions took place—by lethal injection.



But such punishments are not only popular in the United States. For example, in 1989 in Thailand, fraudster Chamoi Thipyaso and her seven accomplices were sentenced to 141,078 years in prison for large-scale banking fraud. This case is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

And former influential Palestinian Authority official Abdullah Ghaleb al-Barghouti received 67 life sentences for organizing numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis.