Oldest prisoner
- Who
- Unknown
- When
- 17 July 1989
Bill Wallace (Australia, 1881-1989) is the oldest prisoner on record, spending the last 63 years of his life in Aradale Psychiatric Hospital, at Ararat, Victoria, Australia. He had shot and killed a man at a restaurant in Melbourne, Victoria in December 1925 and, having been found unfit to plead, was transferred to the responsibility of the Mental Health Department in February 1926. He remained at Aradale until his death on 17 July 1989, shortly before his 108th birthday.
Bill Wallace, the oldest prisoner on record, when asked why he was in prison, responded: `There was a man... Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know'.
In 1999, convicted child molester Ellef J. Ellefson turned 94 years old whilst serving his sentence at Jackson Correctional Institution, Wisconsin, USA – making him the oldest living prison inmate. At a January 2000 hearing in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Ellefson, then 95, was ordered to remain confined beyond his sentence because experts said he was still incorrigible. Ellefson, convicted of six sex offences against children since 1937, isn't scheduled to be released until 2006, when he will be 100.
In 1999, convicted child molester Ellef J. Ellefson turned 94 years old whilst serving his sentence at Jackson Correctional Institution, Wisconsin, USA – making him the oldest living prison inmate. At a January 2000 hearing in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Ellefson, then 95, was ordered to remain confined beyond his sentence because experts said he was still incorrigible. Ellefson, convicted of six sex offences against children since 1937, isn't scheduled to be released until 2006, when he will be 100.