Oldest US inmate dies at 101 years old after being spared execution 8 times: report
He maintained his innocence after a 1950 murder conviction and was later moved to supervised parole in a care home for elderly prisoners.
- Smith, the longest-serving US prisoner who maintained his innocence for more than 70 years, died in June at age 101. He passed away in his sleep at 60 West, a nursing facility, while under supervised parole.
- Convicted of murdering night watchman Grover Hart at age 25, Smith was spared execution multiple times. Interrogating officer Major Leo Carroll later testified he was "not even sure he was present at the murder."
- Known as "The Birdman of Osborn," Smith fed birds by stuffing bread in his clothing while incarcerated. Andrius Banevicius, public information officer for Connecticut Department of Correction, said Smith "did pretty well as far as longevity is concerned."
- Smith lived his final years at 60 West under the MissionCare Health scheme, which operates three facilities in the northeastern US. Spokesman David Skoczulek said the facility provided skilled nursing and long-term care, ensuring Smith's passing was "dignified."
- Researchers like Dr. Stephanie Prost from University of Louisville argue cases like Smith's demonstrate need for "smart de-carceration." Imprisonment causes "accelerated ageing," with dementia arriving "significantly earlier" than in the general population.
51 Articles
51 Articles
When Francis Clifford Smith was brought his last supper, he was convinced he would die the next morning. And it happened not once, but eight times. But the execution was postponed each time, and the man who spent more than seven decades behind bars eventually became the longest-serving convict in United States history. He died this June at the age of 101.
America's Longest-Serving Prisoner Dies at 101
A Connecticut man who spent 76 years behind bars, and maintained his innocence to the end, died in his sleep at a secured nursing facility, closing one of the most extraordinary and troubling chapters in American criminal justice. Francis Clifford Smith was cremated without a funeral. No ceremony marked the passing of a man who entered the system at 25 and never left it. A spokesman for 60 West, the secured Connecticut nursing facility where Smi…
Francis Clifford Smith, a former prisoner who had probably served the longest prison sentence in U.S. history, died at the age of 101 in a dream in late June at a 60 West centre for ex-prisoners in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, told "BBC" a representative of the agency.
Francis Clifford Smith, believed to be America’s longest-serving prisoner, dies at 101 after dodging execution eight times
A Connecticut man who spent 76 years behind bars, and maintained his innocence to the end, died in his sleep at a secured nursing facility, closing one of the most extraordinary and troubling chapters in American criminal justice. Francis Clifford Smith was cremated without a funeral. No ceremony marked the passing of a man who...
Probably the oldest inmate in the United States escaped the death penalty several times because of doubt about his guilt. Francis Clifford Smith has now died in his cell.
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