While the average time spent in prison for all of the exonerees in the National Registry of Exonerations is just over nine years, there have been some prisoners who spent an extraordinary amount of time imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. The Registry calculates prison time from the date of conviction. Therefore, our calculations exclude time spent incarcerated prior to conviction. The following is a list of the exonerees who spent at least 25 years in prison prior to exoneration.
| Name | Time Incarcerated | Sentence | Incarcerated | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Washington | 31 years, 6 months, 30 days | Life | - | Maryland |
| Detroy Livingston | 31 years, 5 months, 19 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| Andre Davis | 31 years, 5 months, 13 days | Life | - | Illinois |
| Thomas James | 31 years, 3 months, 14 days | Term of Years | - | Florida |
| Victor Rosario | 31 years, 3 months, 12 days | Life | - | Massachusetts |
| Andrew Swainson | 31 years, 2 months, 28 days | Life without parole | - | Pennsylvania |
| Darrell Jones | 31 years, 2 months, 19 days | Life without parole | - | Massachusetts |
| Lawrence McKinney | 31 years, 2 months, 2 days | Life | - | Tennessee |
| Tony Hopps | 31 years, 1 months, 28 days | Life | - | Florida |
| Joaquin Ciria | 31 years, 1 months, 22 days | Term of Years | - | California |
| Lee Harris | 31 years, 0 months, 9 days | Term of Years | - | Illinois |
| Carlton Lewis | 30 years, 11 months, 30 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| Emerson Stevens | 30 years, 10 months, 7 days | Life | - | Virginia |
| Carlton Roman | 30 years, 9 months, 21 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| William Vasquez | 30 years, 8 months, 27 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| Amaury Villalobos | 30 years, 8 months, 26 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| Reginald Adams | 30 years, 8 months, 26 days | Life without parole | - | Louisiana |
| Samuel Scott Minton | 30 years, 8 months, 18 days | Term of Years | - | Tennessee |
| Ismael Vasquez | 30 years, 7 months, 30 days | Term of Years | - | Ohio |
| Stanley Wrice | 30 years, 6 months, 22 days | Life | - | Illinois |
| Richard Phillips | 30 years, 6 months, 22 days | Death | - | Virginia |
| Stearns Kendall Abbott | 30 years, 6 months, 5 days | Death | - | Massachusetts |
| Joseph Eastridge | 30 years, 5 months, 23 days | Term of Years | - | District of Columbia |
| Antonio Martinez | 30 years, 5 months, 22 days | Life | - | Pennsylvania |
| Rickey Dale Wyatt | 30 years, 5 months, 4 days | Life | - | Texas |
| Ronald Jacobsen | 30 years, 4 months, 22 days | Life | - | Georgia |
| Andrew Wilson | 30 years, 4 months, 2 days | Life without parole | - | California |
| Perry Lott | 30 years, 3 months, 29 days | Life | - | Oklahoma |
| Alfredo Gonzalez | 30 years, 3 months, 9 days | Life without parole | - | Illinois |
| Paul Madison | 30 years, 3 months, 8 days | Term of Years | - | Maryland |
| Charles Lee Clark | 30 years, 3 months, 1 days | Life | - | Michigan |
| Eron Shelman | 30 years, 2 months, 6 days | Life | - | Michigan |
| Robert Smith | 30 years, 1 months, 24 days | Life without parole | - | Illinois |
| Laurence Adams | 30 years, 1 months, 6 days | Death | - | Massachusetts |
| Ralph Birch | 30 years, 0 months, 20 days | Term of Years | - | Connecticut |
| Cornelius Dupree | 30 years, 0 months, 20 days | Term of Years | - | Texas |
| Phillip Bivens | 29 years, 10 months, 12 days | Life | - | Mississippi |
| Leon Brown | 29 years, 10 months, 8 days | Death | - | North Carolina |
| Henry McCollum | 29 years, 10 months, 8 days | Death | - | North Carolina |
| Bobby Ray Dixon | 29 years, 9 months, 29 days | Life | - | Mississippi |
| Reynaldo Munoz | 29 years, 9 months, 22 days | Term of Years | - | Illinois |
| George Toca | 29 years, 9 months, 15 days | Life without parole | - | Louisiana |
| Dean McKee | 29 years, 6 months, 23 days | Life | - | Florida |
| Johnnie Savory | 29 years, 5 months, 18 days | Term of Years | - | Illinois |
| Henry James | 29 years, 5 months, 13 days | Life without parole | - | Louisiana |
| Vance Hardy | 29 years, 4 months, 19 days | Life | - | Michigan |
| George Allen | 29 years, 3 months, 21 days | Term of Years | - | Missouri |
| Jerome Johnson | 29 years, 3 months, 18 days | Life | - | Maryland |
| Glenn Ford | 29 years, 3 months, 4 days | Death | - | Louisiana |
| Shawn Henning | 29 years, 2 months, 26 days | Term of Years | - | Connecticut |