Francis Clifford Smith, regarded as longest-serving US prisoner, dies at 101

US prison population over 55 has grown by nearly 400% since 1991

Francis Clifford Smith, who served more than 70 years in Connecticut prisons after being convicted of first-degree murder in 1950, died in his sleep in June at age 101 at a nursing facility in the north-eastern United States.

Smith passed away at 60 West, a skilled nursing facility that provides care to formerly incarcerated individuals, according to the facility’s spokesman David Skoczulek. “Essentially, he died of old age,” Skoczulek told the BBC. Smith was later cremated.

Smith was a young petty criminal when he was accused in 1949 of the murder of Grover Hart, a night watchman at a Connecticut yacht club. He was one of two men arrested over the killing; the other took a plea deal and gave evidence against Smith, who was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Smith always maintained his innocence, according to those who knew him. Over the years, his guilt and the evidence on which he was convicted were questioned — particularly after witnesses recanted their statements and another inmate later confessed to the murder.

Major Leo Carroll, one of the officers who had interrogated Smith after his arrest, later testified to the Board of Pardons that he believed Smith was innocent. “I’m not even sure he was present at the murder,” Carroll announced to the board, according to the Boston Globe.

Smith was sentenced to death and was given his last meal eight times over the course of his incarceration. He was spared execution each time. Inside the corrections system, he became known as the “Birdman of Osborn” for feeding birds while at Osborn prison.

“He would stuff as much bread as he could … in his clothing,” Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut’s Department of Correction, told the BBC. “Everyone kind of turned a blind eye to it because they knew he was just feeding the birds.”

Smith’s path through the corrections system included several brief stints outside prison walls. He escaped in 1967 and was recaptured 12 days later. In 1974, he was allowed home for Christmas Eve and returned the next day, according to Banevicius. In 1975, he was granted parole and remained free for approximately 10 months before being arrested for petty larceny and possession of a weapon — a violation of his parole, according to the Boston Globe.

Richard Sparaco, former executive director of what is now called the Board of Pardons and Paroles, told the Hartford Courant that Smith rejected several subsequent attempts to return to parole until 2020, when he was granted supervised parole and moved to a care home for elderly people within the justice system. Smith was among the first to be cared for under the MissionCare Health scheme, which focuses specifically on providing care to incarcerated individuals and currently operates three facilities in the north-eastern US.

Smith’s case comes amid a documented rise in the number of elderly US prisoners. According to a 2025 study, the number of people aged 55 and older in prison increased by nearly 400% between 1991 and 2021. The US Census Bureau forecasts that by 2030, at least one-third of the incarcerated population will be over 50 years old.

Dr Stephanie Prost, a researcher in older adults and prison settings at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, told the BBC that the United States was not alone in confronting the issue. “We’re not the only jurisdiction that’s facing that ageing-related crisis, because similar issues are percolating in Australia and England,” Prost said. “It’s an international issue in terms of the population. Although, of course, we have a larger number of individuals in the US.”

Researchers like Prost are pushing for what they call “smart de-carceration” — policies such as compassionate release and elderly or medical parole that weigh age and care needs. Such programmes consider the particular challenges elderly inmates face, including fall risks, incontinence, and hearing impairments, in highly regimented prison settings. But there are few facilities willing to take on convicted prisoners, experts said.

Smith reportedly had dementia at the end of his life. Banevicius declined to confirm this but said Smith was dealing with age-related conditions. “He was 101 and a half,” Banevicius told the BBC. “He did pretty well as far as longevity is concerned.”

Research indicates that imprisonment can lead to accelerated aging, with conditions such as dementia potentially arriving “significantly earlier” for incarcerated individuals than for the general population. “We frequently say that a person coming from a long period of incarceration can be 60 but have the health status of a 90-year-old,” Skoczulek said.