List of prison deaths

This is a list of notable people who have died in prison, whether 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. Most of them died from suicide.

Name	Date of death	Nationality	Cause of death	Known for	Comments
Vercingetorix	during 46 BC	Gaul (detained by the  Roman Republic)	Strangulation	Gaulish leader defeated by Julius Caesar
Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel	1595-10-19	Kingdom of England	Dysentery	Imprisoned in the Tower of London as a Roman Catholic recusant by Elizabeth I of England. Acclaimed a martyr almost immediately and canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Wolfe Tone	1798-11-19	Ireland (detained by  Great Britain)	Suicide	Leader of the 1798 Irish Rebellion against Great Britain	Sentenced to death by hanging; committed suicide because he wanted to die by firing squad (a soldier's death, rather than a criminal's) instead.
Toussaint Louverture	1804-04-07	Haiti (detained by  France)	Natural causes	Leader of the Haitian Revolution who was imprisoned for launching a rebellion against France
Anthony Van Egmond	1838-01-05	Netherlands  Upper Canada	Pneumonia, malnutrition and exposure	Dutch war veteran and an early settler in the Huron Tract
Gavrilo Princip	1918-04-28	Austria-Hungary	Malnutrition and skeletal tuberculosis	Yugoslav terrorist	Assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, beginning World War I
Richard Loeb	1936-01-28	United States	Murdered by fellow inmate[1]	American murderer
Nikolai Vavilov	1943-01-26	Soviet Union	Malnutrition	Russian botanist and geneticist who was imprisoned for his struggle against pseudoscience
Kasturba Gandhi	1944-02-22	India	Natural causes	Indian political activist and the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi	Imprisoned in a detention camp in Pune for protesting and participating in the Quit India movement.
Viktors Eglītis	1945-04-20	Latvia	Unknown	Leading figure in the Latvian decadent movement and an introducer of modernist poetics	During the Soviet era, accused of being a fascist collaborator.[2]
Emil Hácha	1945-06-27	Czechoslovakia	Unknown	3rd President of Czechoslovakia, later of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
Robert Ley	1945-10-25	Germany	Suicide by hanging	Nazi war criminal
Hermann Göring	1946-10-15	Germany (detained by the Allied Powers)	Suicide by poison	Nazi war criminal
Josef Bachmann	1970-02-24	West Germany	Suicide	Attempt to assassinate APO student leader Rudi Dutschke
Yuri Galanskov	1972-11-04	Soviet Union	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
Albert DeSalvo	1973-11-25	United States	Murdered	The Boston Strangler
Steve Biko	1977-09-12	South Africa	Bludgeoned to death by South African police[3]	South African anti-apartheid activist	Forty-sixth political detainee to die during interrogation since the government introduced laws permitting imprisonment without trial in 1963.
Andreas Baader	1977-10-18	West Germany	Suicide	Member of the Red Army Faction
Gudrun Ensslin	1977-10-18	West Germany	Suicide	Member of the Red Army Faction
Richard Chase	1980-12-26	United States	Suicide	American serial killer
Roy Buchanan	1988-08-14	United States	Suicide by hanging	American guitarist	His death is still the subject of fierce debate.
Klaus Barbie	1991-09-25	Germany (detained by  France)	Leukemia	Nazi war criminal
Walter Breen	1993-04-27	United States	Cancer	American child molester
Garry David	1993-07-11	Australia	Died from wounds caused by self-mutilation	Robbery and attempted murder
Jeffrey Dahmer	1994-11-28	United States	Beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver[4]	American serial killer and cannibal
Jesse Anderson	1994-11-30	United States	Beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver	American murderer
Byron De La Beckwith	2001-01-21	United States	Heart attack[5]	American white supremacist	Klansman from Greenwood, Mississippi who assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963.
Abu Abbas	2004-03-08	Palestine (detained by the  United States in  Iraq)	Natural causes	Terrorist	Captured by American forces on 14 April 2003, the Pentagon reported Abbas died on 8 March 2004. US returned body to Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Clayton Fountain	2004-07-12	United States	Heart attack	Member of the Aryan Brotherhood
Samuel Bowers	2006-11-05	United States	Cardio-pulmonary arrest	American white supremacist	Co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and convicted of bombing death of civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer.
Antonie Dixon	2009-02-04	New Zealand	Suicide	New Zealand thief and murderer
Susan Atkins	2009-09-24	United States	Brain tumor	Member of the Manson family
Edarem	2012-01-08	United States	Lung cancer	American Internet personality
Heinrich Boere	2013-12-01	Germany	Natural causes	Nazi war criminal
Sandra Bland	2015-07-13	United States	Alleged suicide	American motorist	Arrested for traffic violation on July 10 by State Trooper Brian Encinia. Encinia was indicted for perjury for making false statements about the circumstances of Bland's arrest. Waller County jail failed to follow required policies and procedures.
Omar Abdel-Rahman	2017-02-18	Egypt (detained by the  United States)	Coronary arterial disease	Terrorist
Whitey Bulger	2018-10-30	United States	Killed by prison inmates	American mobster
Jeffrey Epstein	2019-08-10	United States	Alleged suicide	American financier and convicted sex offender
Ian Brady	2017	United Kingdom	Cancer	British serial killer
Ariel Castro	2013	United States	Suicide	Kidnapped and raped three American women for over a decade.
John Evander Couey	2009	United States	Cancer	Sex offender convicted of murdering Jessica Lunsford
Sigurd Debus	1981	West Germany	Hungerstrike	Alleged member of the Red Army Faction
John Geoghan	2003	United States	Murdered by fellow inmate Joseph Druce	Catholic priest and child molester
Vincent Gigante	2005	United States	Oxygen deprivation	American Mafia boss	Boss of Genovese crime family
John Wayne Glover	2005	Australia	Suicide by hanging[6]	Sydney Granny Murderer
John Gotti	2002	United States	Throat cancer	American Mafia boss
Ryan Gracie	2007	Brazil	Died as a result of brain injury	Brazilian mixed martial artist
Katharina Hammerschmidt	1975	West Germany	Untreated cancer	Member of the Red Army Faction
Charles Harrelson	2007	United States	Heart attack	Hitman, convicted of murdering U.S. Federal judge John H. Wood Jr.	Father of actor Woody Harrelson.
Donald Harvey	2017	United States	Killed by fellow inmate	Serial killer
Colin Hatch	2011	United Kingdom	Suspected homicide	Notorious murderer and child molester
Siegfried Hausner	1975	West Germany	Severe burns untreated in custody	Member of the Red Army Faction
Aaron Hernandez	2017	United States	Suicide	Former tight-end for NFL team New England Patriots, later convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd	Found not guilty of the 2012 double homicide of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado just 5 days before he was found dead.
Rudolf Hess	1987	Germany (held by the Four-Power Authorities)	Suicide	Nazi war criminal	Was the sole inmate in Spandau Prison from 1966 until his death. The prison was demolished afterwards
Myra Hindley	2002	United Kingdom	Died in hospital after heart attack in prison	British serial killer
Richard Huckle	2019	United Kingdom	Stabbed to death	British serial sex offender and paedophile
Colin Ireland	2012	United Kingdom	Died as a result of hip injury.[7]	British serial killer of gay men
Ilse Koch	1967	West Germany	Suicide by hanging	Wife of the Commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp
Ronald Kray	1995	United Kingdom	Heart attack	British gangster and murderer, twin brother of Reginald Kray
David Lane	2007	United States	Epilepsy	American white nationalist
Brian Lawler	2018	United States	Suicide by hanging[8]	Professional wrestler
Ervil LeBaron	1981	United States	Natural causes	American Mormon fundamentalist
Liu Shaoqi	1969	China	Pneumonia / unknown illness	Former Chairman of the People's Republic of China	Died of mistreatment as a result of political persecution during the Cultural Revolution
Liu Xiaobo	2017	China	Liver cancer	Prisoner of conscience	Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2010)
Sergei Magnitsky	2009	Russia	Closed cerebral cranial injury	Russian tax accountant who specialized in anti-corruption activities	Magnitsky alleged there had been large-scale theft from the Russian state, sanctioned and carried out by Russian officials. He was arrested and eventually died in prison.
Charles Manson	2017	United States	Natural causes	Leader of the Manson Family
Philip Markoff	2010	United States	Suicide	American murderer	Known as the "Craigslist killer"
Andrew Martinez	2006	United States	Suicide	Nude activist
Ulrike Meinhof	1976	West Germany	Suicide	Member of the Red Army Faction
Holger Meins	1974	West Germany	Hunger strike	Member of the Red Army Faction
Ivan Milat	2019	Australia	Natural causes	Murder
Slobodan Milošević	2006	Serbia	Heart attack	Serbian and Yugoslav president
Tjostolv Moland	2013	Norway (detained by the  Democratic Republic of the Congo)	Suicide	Sentenced to death for murder, and espionage for Norway	Died in Congolese custody[9]
Joe "Pegleg" Morgan	1993	Mexico (detained by the  United States)	Liver cancer	Mexican Mafia leader
Dennis Nilsen	2018	United Kingdom	Pulmonary embolism	British serial killer
Lou Pearlman	2016	United States	Cardiac arrest	Manager of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC
Carmine Persico	2019	United States	Natural causes	Boss of the Colombo crime family
Lawrence Phillips	2016	United States	Suicide	American football player
Richard Ramirez	2013	United States	Cancer	American serial killer
Jan-Carl Raspe	1977	West Germany	Suicide	Member of the Red Army Faction
James Earl Ray	1998	United States	Hepatitis C	Convicted for assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Sarah Reed	2016	United Kingdom	Suicide/accidental death	On remand awaiting possible trial pending psychiatric reports	Charged with GBH with intent
Jack Ruby	1967	United States	Pulmonary embolism	American nightclub owner	Murdered Lee Harvey Oswald
Bobby Sands	1981	United Kingdom	Hunger strike	Irish republican	Died along with 9 other Republicans on hunger strike. See 1981 Irish Hunger Strike
Gerard John Schaefer	1995	United States	Stabbed to death	American murderer
Ingrid Schubert	1977	West Germany	Suicide	Member of the Red Army Faction
Arthur Shawcross	2008	United States	Cardiac arrest	Serial killer
Harold Shipman	2004	United Kingdom	Suicide by hanging	British doctor who killed many of his patients
Richard Speck	1991	United States	Heart attack	American mass murderer
John Straffen	2007	United Kingdom	Natural causes	British serial killer	Longest-serving prisoner in British legal history, was in prison for 55 years until his death
Robert Stroud	1963	United States	Natural causes	The Birdman of Alcatraz
John Anthony Walker	2014	United States	Unknown	United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer convicted of spying for the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1985
Raoul Wallenberg	1947 or later	Sweden (believed to have been detained by the  Soviet Union)	Unknown (debated)	Extrajudicial punishment in Soviet Lefortovo prison	Diplomat, rescued Jews during the Holocaust
Fred West	1995	United Kingdom	Suicide by hanging[10]	Multiple murders; was on remand awaiting trial
Carl Williams	2010	Australia	Bludgeoned to death	Australian crime boss	Murdered by fellow inmate while serving sentence
Yip Kai Foon	2017	Hong Kong	Lung cancer[11]	Hong Kong armed robber with AK-47
Graham Young	1990	United Kingdom	Heart attack	Poisoner	Died in Parkhurst prison. Heart attack is the official cause of death, but there has been speculation that other prisoners may have been responsible.
Romell Broom	2020	United States	COVID-19	Murder of Tryna Middleton.[12]
Terry Peder Rasmussen	2010	United States	lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia	Serial killer with six known victims.[13] on December 28, 2010.[14][15]
Jack Unterweger	1994	Austria	suicide	Serial killer with estimated 12-15 victims[16][17][18]