A study by The Sentencing Project found that over 203,000 Americans were serving life sentences in 2021 (via The Washington Post). That came to 15% of the U.S. prison population and 40% of the worldwide number of people sentenced to life. The numbers are more stark when looking at incarcerated people who serve life without the possibility of parole; 83% of such convicted felons worldwide are incarcerated in the U.S. For comparison, the United Kingdom has a total of 70 life-without-parole inmates as of 2023 out of a total prison population of just over 95,000, per the House of Commons Library. The sentence was only introduced in 1983 according to The Telegraph. The Sentencing Project has argued that even prison terms exceeding 20 years are rare outside the United States.
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How inflexible American life sentences can be has varied by time and state. Alaska does not allow life sentences without parole, but per NPR, Louisiana’s life sentences have grown increasingly harsh. From allowing a request for commutation as soon as 10 years in during the 1920s, the state converted all death sentences to life after the death penalty was briefly struck down in 1972, and followed up that decision with higher thresholds for seeking parole. Currently, Louisiana’s life sentences are just that: for life, with no option for parole. The state prison at Angola has filled an entire cemetery with imprisoned people who died behind bars without hope of release, and a second cemetery will soon be full too.
