US prisoner who survived eight execution dates dies at 101 after 70 years behind bars

A US prisoner who survived eight execution dates and spent more than 70 years behind bars has died at the age of 101, according to the BBC.

Francis Clifford Smith was convicted of first-degree murder in Connecticut in 1950, when he was 25, but maintained his innocence throughout his imprisonment.

Smith was accused of killing Grover Hart, a night watchman at a Connecticut yacht club, in 1949. He was one of two men arrested over the killing, but the other man accepted a plea deal and testified against him.

He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death.

However, doubts about the conviction emerged over the years, with witnesses later recanting their statements and another inmate confessing to the murder.

One of the officers who interrogated Smith after his arrest also later told the Board of Pardons that he believed Smith was innocent.

“I’m not even sure he was present at the murder,” Major Leo Carroll said, according to the Boston Globe.

Smith was scheduled for execution eight times and was given a last meal on each occasion before his execution was ultimately spared.

He spent more than seven decades in prison, apart from three brief periods of freedom.

In 1967, he escaped from prison but was recaptured 12 days later. In 1974, he was allowed to leave prison for Christmas Eve and returned the following day.

He was granted parole in 1975 but was arrested about 10 months later for petty larceny and possession of a weapon, in violation of his parole.

In 2020, Smith was granted supervised parole and moved to a care facility for elderly people.

He became known as “The Birdman of Osborn” because he regularly fed birds while in prison.

Smith later moved to 60 West, a nursing facility providing care to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, where he died in his sleep in June.

David Skoczulek, a spokesman for the facility, said Smith died of old age and that his passing was handled according to his wishes.

Smith’s case has also highlighted the growing challenge of caring for an ageing prison population in the United States.

A 2025 study found that the number of people aged 55 and older in US prisons increased by nearly 400 per cent between 1991 and 2021.

Researchers have called for measures such as compassionate release and elderly or medical parole to address the needs of ageing prisoners.

Research has also found that imprisonment can contribute to accelerated ageing, with some health conditions developing earlier among people who have spent long periods in prison.