List of prison deaths
Appearance
It has been suggested that this article should be split into articles titled list of prison suicides and list of prisoners murdered whilst serving their sentences. (discuss) (April 2016) |
This is a list of notable people who have died in prison, whether actually in prison or in hospital while still serving a prison sentence. In alphabetical order, this list does not include inmates who were executed as punishment for their crimes.
Name | Date of death | Cause of death | Known for | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
Abu Abbas | 2004 | Natural causes | Militant | |
Jesse Anderson | 1994 | Beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver | American murderer | |
Susan Atkins | 2009 | Natural causes | Member of the Manson family | |
Andreas Baader | 1977 | Alleged suicide | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Josef Bachmann | 1970 | Suicide | Attempt to assassinate APO student leader Rudi Dutschke | |
Klaus Barbie | 1991 | Leukemia | Nazi war criminal | |
Steve Biko | 1977 | Bludgeoned to death by South African police[1] | South African anti-apartheid activist | |
Heinrich Boere | 2013 | Natural causes | Nazi war criminal | |
Samuel Bowers | 2006 | Cardio-pulmonary arrest | American white supremacist | |
Walter Breen | 1993 | Cancer | American child molester | |
Ariel Castro | 2013 | Suicide | Kidnapped and raped three American women for over a decade. | |
Richard Chase | 1980 | Suicide | The Vampire of Sacramento | |
Jeffrey Dahmer | 1994 | Beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver[2] | American serial killer and cannibal | |
Garry David | 1993 | Died from wounds caused by self-mutilation | Robbery and attempted murder | |
Byron De La Beckwith | 2001 | Heart attack[3] | American assassin | |
Sigurd Debus | 1981 | Hungerstrike | Alleged member of the Red Army Faction | |
Albert DeSalvo | 1973 | Murdered | The Boston Strangler | |
Antonie Dixon | 2009 | Suicide | New Zealand thief and murderer | |
Edarem | 2012 | Lung Cancer | American Internet personality | |
Gudrun Ensslin | 1977 | Alleged suicide | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Clayton Fountain | 2004 | Heart attack | Member of the Aryan Brotherhood | |
Yuri Galanskov | 1972 | Death from an operation by a former doctor (another inmate) with no surgical qualifications | Russian poet, historian, and human rights activist, imprisoned for his writings | |
Kasturba Gandhi | 1944 | Natural causes | Wife of Mohandas Gandhi; fellow political protestor | |
John Geoghan | 2003 | Murdered by fellow inmate Joseph Druce | Catholic priest and child molester | |
Vincent Gigante | 2005 | Oxygen deprivation | American Mafia boss | Boss of Genovese crime family |
John Wayne Glover | 2005 | Suicide (hanging)[4] | Sydney Granny Murderer | |
Hermann Göring | 1946 | Suicide | Nazi | |
John Gotti | 2002 | Throat cancer | American mafia boss | |
Ryan Gracie | 2007 | Died as a result of brain injury | Brazilian mixed martial artist | |
Emil Hácha | 1945 | Unknown | President of Czechoslovakia, later of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia | |
Katharina Hammerschmidt | 1975 | Untreated cancer | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Siegfried Hausner | 1975 | Severe burns untreated in custody | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Colin Hatch | 2011 | Suspected Homicide | Notorious murderer and child molester | |
Rudolf Hess | 1987 | Suicide | Nazi | |
Myra Hindley | 2002 | Died in hospital after heart attack in prison | British serial killer | |
Colin Ireland | 2012 | Died as a result of hip injury.[5] | British serial killer of gay men | |
Ilse Koch | 1967 | Suicide (hanging) | Commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp | |
Ronald Kray | 1995 | Heart attack | British gangster and murderer, twin brother of Reginald Kray | |
David Lane | 2007 | Epilepsy | American white nationalist | |
Ervil LeBaron | 1981 | Natural causes | American Mormon fundamentalist | |
Robert Ley | 1945 | Suicide (hanging) | Nazi war criminal | |
Richard Loeb | 1936 | Murdered by fellow inmate[6] | American murderer | |
Philip Markoff | 2010 | Suicide | American murderer | Known as the "Craigslist killer" |
Andrew Martinez | 2006 | Suicide | Nude activist | |
Ulrike Meinhof | 1976 | Alleged suicide | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Holger Meins | 1974 | Hunger strike | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Slobodan Milošević | 2006 | Heart attack | Serbian and Yugoslav president | |
Tjostolv Moland | 2013 | Suicide | Sentenced to death for murder, and espionage for Norway | Died in Congolese custody[7] |
Joe "Pegleg" Morgan | 1993 | Liver cancer | Mexican Mafia leader | |
Lawrence Phillips | 2016 | Suicide | American football player | |
Gavrilo Princip | 1918 | Malnutrition & skeletal tuberculosis | Yugoslav terrorist | Assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, beginning World War I |
Richard Ramirez | 2013 | Cancer | American serial killer | |
Jan-Carl Raspe | 1977 | Alleged suicide | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
James Earl Ray | 1998 | Hepatitis C | Accused assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. | |
Jack Ruby | 1967 | Pulmonary embolism | American nightclub owner |
Murdered Lee Harvey Oswald |
Bobby Sands | 1981 | Hunger strike | Irish republican | Died along with 9 other Republicans on hunger strike. See 1981 Irish Hunger Strike |
Ingrid Schubert | 1977 | Alleged suicide | Member of the Red Army Faction | |
Harold Shipman | 2004 | Suicide by hanging | British doctor who killed many of his patients | |
Liu Shaoqi | 1969 | unknown | President of the People's Republic of China | Wrongly named a traitor during the Cultural Revolution |
Richard Speck | 1991 | Heart attack | American mass murderer | |
John Straffen | 2007 | Natural causes | British serial killer | Longest-serving prisoner in British legal history, was in prison for 55 years until his death |
Robert Stroud | 1963 | Natural causes | The Birdman of Alcatraz | |
Anthony Van Egmond | 1838 | Pneumonia, malnutrition and exposure | Dutch war veteran and an early settler in the Huron Tract | |
Nikolai Vavilov | 1943 | Malnutrition | Russian botanist and geneticist who was imprisoned for his struggle against pseudoscience | |
Raoul Wallenberg | 1947 or later | Extrajudicial punishment in Soviet Lefortovo prison | Diplomat, rescued Jews during the Holocaust | |
Fred West | 1995 | Suicide by hanging[8] | Multiple murders; was on remand awaiting trial | |
Graham Young | 1990 | Heart attack | Poisoner | Died in Parkhurst prison. Heart attack official cause but there has been speculation that other prisoners may have been responsible.[citation needed] |
Bob Younger | 1889 | Tuberculosis | Bandit |
References
- ^ Pillay, Verashni (2007-09-12). "Keeping Steve Biko alive". News24. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Serial killer's property set to go on the auction block." CNN.com. May 8, 1996.
- ^ Stout, David (2001-01-23). "Byron De La Beckwith Dies; Killer of Medgar Evers Was 80". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Sidney Morning Herald: Granny killer found dead in cell.
- ^ Pink News: Exercise yard fall contributed to death of Gay Slayer.
- ^ The Leopold and Loeb Trial:A Brief Account by Douglas O. Linder. 1997. Retrieved 11 April 2007.
- ^ Rydland, Julie (29 August 2013). "Congo: Prisoner took his own life". The Norway Post. Aftenposten. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ Steven Morris (2007-09-20). "Serial Murder and the Psychology of a Sexual Sadist: Frederick West". New Criminologist. Retrieved 2009-01-18.