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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominic Lucci | 25 years, 1 months, 1 days | Life | - | Georgia |
| Kenneth Gardiner | 25 years, 1 months, 1 days | Life | - | Georgia |
| Mark Jones | 25 years, 1 months, 1 days | Life | - | Georgia |
| Gregory Counts | 25 years, 4 months, 29 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| Vicente Benavides | 24 years, 11 months, 30 days | Death | - | California |
| Desmond Ricks | 24 years, 8 months, 1 days | Term of Years | - | Michigan |
| Joel Alcox | 24 years, 10 months, 20 days | Term of Years | - | California |
| Darryl Pinkins | 24 years, 11 months, 21 days | Term of Years | - | Indiana |
| Timothy Bridges | 24 years, 7 months, 27 days | Life | - | North Carolina |
| Daniel Andersen | 25 years, 1 months, 17 days | Term of Years | - | Illinois |
| Kevin Martin | 25 years, 0 months, 20 days | Term of Years | - | District of Columbia |
| Reginald Griffin | 24 years, 10 months, 15 days | Death | - | Missouri |
| David Munchinski | 24 years, 10 months, 2 days | Life | - | Pennsylvania |
| Curtis McGhee | 25 years, 4 months, 21 days | Life | - | Iowa |
| Hicks Elliff | 25 years, 2 months, 12 days | Term of Years | - | Texas |
| Michael Morton | 24 years, 7 months, 15 days | Life | - | Texas |
| Elmer Pratt | 24 years, 10 months, 11 days | Term of Years | - | California |
| Steven Phillips | 24 years, 10 months, 2 days | Term of Years | - | Texas |
| Johnnie Lindsey | 25 years, 5 months, 27 days | Life | - | Texas |
| Rickey Johnson | 25 years, 0 months, 7 days | Life without parole | - | Louisiana |
| Larry Hudson | 25 years, 5 months, 22 days | Death | - | Louisiana |
| Terry Harrington | 24 years, 8 months, 12 days | Life | - | Iowa |
| Roland Gibson | 24 years, 10 months, 14 days | Life | - | Louisiana |
| Joseph R. Fears | 24 years, 8 months, 24 days | Term of Years | - | Ohio |
| John Duval | 25 years, 5 months, 14 days | Term of Years | - | New York |
| Luis Diaz | 25 years, 2 months, 25 days | Life | - | Florida |
| Anthony Caravella | 25 years, 1 months, 8 days | Life | - | Florida |
| Edward Baker | 25 years, 2 months, 17 days | Life | - | Pennsylvania |
| William Fisher | 25 years, 1 months, 11 days | Term of Years | - | New York |