Who is Oklahoma man serving America's longest ever prison sentence? Even 200 lifetimes wouldn't be enough

What is the longest prison sentence? It’s not 100 years, 200 years, or even a millennium. It is no less than 30,000 years. Yes, you read that right! This sentence was passed in Oklahoma. On December 14, 1994, one Charles Scott Robinson was sentenced to 30,000 years in prison. According to law firm Phillips & Associates, Robinson was convicted of no fewer than six counts against children, including horrific acts of rape (using an instrument), forced sodomy, burglary, robbery, and larceny.

The jury proposed multiple 5,000-year prison terms, which District Judge Dan Owens directed should be served consecutively. The decision was intended to ensure that Robinson would remain behind bars for the rest of his life, as life imprisonment without the possibility of parole was not a legally permissible punishment for the offences he had committed.

Incidentally, the other two cases of the longest prison sentences were also from Oklahoma. Just a year before Robinson was sentenced, two men – Allan McLaurin and Darron Anderson – were found guilty of multiple offences, including rape, forcible sodomy, assault involving a dangerous weapon, burglary, robbery and larceny.


McLaurin was sentenced to 21,250 years in prison; when he appealed, his sentence was reduced by 500 years. His accomplice, Anderson, was initially sentenced to 2,200 years; when he appealed, he was again subjected to a trial, convicted, and this time sentenced to 11,250 years in prison.

Who Has The Most Prison Sentences?

This dubious honour goes to a man named Bobby Joe Long, a murdered and a serial rapist from Florida. In 1984, he abducted, raped and murdered at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area in Florida. He became infamous as the "Classified Ad Rapist” - he would respond to advertisements on small appliances and rape women who would respond to the ad alone. He was sentenced to one five-year prison term, four 99-year terms and 28 life sentences. However, he was also handed the death penalty, making the other sentences largely inconsequential in the long run.