14 Famous Criminals Who Were Murdered In Prison

Updated July 7, 20212.3M views14 items

For some criminals, the notoriety that comes with getting caught for horrific offenses is exactly what they want. The newspaper articles, biographies, and constant attention provide certain offenders with a sense of purpose as if they are celebrities who will have their names remembered long after they’re gone. Ultimately, though, gaining notoriety has plenty of downsides. For some offenders, fame is what leads to their untimely passing within the walls of a prison.

The men on this list have proven that maintaining a low profile in prison is better than having a famous name, since being well-known for their heinous actions is what got many of these offenders a death sentence not ordered by the legal system.

- Photo:
Whitey BulgerOn October 30, 2018, notorious Boston gangster James Joseph “Whitey” Bulger was killed at US Penitentiary Hazelton in Virginia. Bulger was serving a life sentence for his involvement in 11 homicides. He topped the FBI’s most-wanted list for 16 years until his 2011 arrest. A jury sentenced him in 2013.Three anonymous people briefed on the prison incident told The Boston Globe that a “fellow inmate with Mafia ties” is responsible for Bulger’s passing.
- Age: Dec. at 89
- Birthplace: Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Photo:
Albert DeSalvoAlbert DeSalvo was better known as the confessed “Boston Strangler,” who killed 13 women. While DeSalvo never ended up in jail for the strangulations, he served a prison sentence for being a serial rapist. DeSalvo attempted to escape from prison, but the escape was short-lived.In 1973, Robert Wilson was suspected of DeSalvo’s stabbing, but he was never convicted.
- Age: Dec. at 42 (1931-1973)
- Birthplace: Chelsea, Boston, Massachusetts
John GeoghanJohn Geoghan, a Catholic priest, was accused of sexually abusing more than 130 children over 30 years in six different parishes. He was charged in 1991, defrocked in 1998, and sentenced to prison in 2002. In 2003, Geoghan was fatally strangled by white supremacist Joseph Druce.Since Druce allegedly planned out the attack on Geoghan well in advance, many believe that officers sanctioned Geoghan’s homicide.
- Age: Dec. at 68 (1935-2003)
- Photo:
  - Milwaukee Police Department
  - Wikipedia
  - Fair Use
Jeffrey DahmerJeffrey Dahmer is one of the most infamous serial killers in history, most known for his cannibalism of men between 1978 and 1991. Once he was caught, he was placed into solitary confinement to ensure that his fellow inmates wouldn’t hurt him.However, when he was let into the general prison population, there were multiple attempts on his life. While on a work detail with Christopher Scarver, Dahmer and another inmate, Jesse Anderson, were killed by Scarver in 1994. Scarver used a piece of equipment from a weight room and claimed guards allowed it to happen. According to Scarver, he wasn’t motivated by Dahmer’s crimes but by his tendency to annoy other inmates by replicating severed limbs with food items.
- Age: Dec. at 34 (1960-1994)
- Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Dig Deeper All The Horrors That Came To Light After Jeffrey Dahmer Was Caught
- And Deeper Serial Killers Who Had Normal Jobs
Every Actor Who Has Played Jeffrey DahmerSee all
- 1Evan Peters – ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’1,760 Votes
- 2Ross Lynch – ‘My Friend Dahmer’965 Votes
- 3Jeremy Renner – ‘Dahmer’784 Votes
- 4Carl Crew – ‘The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer’417 Votes
- Photo:
  - YouTube
Jesse AndersonChristopher Scarver killed Jeffrey Dahmer in prison, along with another inmate by the name of Jesse Anderson. Anderson was in prison for stabbing his wife. Both he and Dahmer were fatally beaten in the same incident.Scarver allegedly killed him because he initially blamed his wife’s homicide on a Black man.
- Age: Dec. at 37 (1957-1994)
- Photo:
  - South African History Online
  - Wikimedia Commons
  - CC BY-SA 4.0
Steve BikoSteve Biko was best known for his anti-apartheid activism in the ’60s and ’70s in South Africa. He was the founder of the Black Consciousness Movement. In 1977, he was arrested as a terrorist by South African police. During his interrogation, he was tortured and beaten until he was in a coma. He died soon after of a brain hemorrhage.Although the police tried to claim it was Biko’s hunger strike that proved fatal, the truth was soon revealed, resulting in headline news exposing the corrupt police. Unfortunately, the police were never charged.
- Age: Dec. at 30 (1946-1977)
- Birthplace: King William’s Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Dig Deeper List of Famous Social Activists
- And Deeper Every Person Who Has Been Immortalized in a Google Doodle
Colin HatchColin Hatch was convicted of killing 7-year-old Sean Williams and sentenced to life in prison in 1994.In 2011, Hatch was killed by a fellow inmate, but not much information was released about the killing.
Leslie BaileyBetween 1984 and 1985, Leslie Bailey killed and molested at least three children. He was a member of a ring of offenders who were also convicted.Bailey was strangled in his cell in a way that made it look like a suicide.
- Age: Dec. at 40 (1953-1993)
- Photo:
  - Unknown
  - Wikimedia Commons
  - Public Domain
Yuri GalanskovYuri Galanskov was best known as a Russian human rights activist and poet, but his writing landed him seven years in a labor camp. He did his best to advocate for the rights of his fellow prisoners, but when he began to suffer from bleeding ulcers, he was ignored and was not given medical treatment.Another prisoner attempted to operate on him, despite having no surgery experience, leading to Galanskov’s untimely passing.
- Age: Dec. at 33 (1939-1972)
- Birthplace: Soviet Union
- Photo:
  - Unknown
  - Wikimedia Commons
  - CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Richard LoebRichard Loeb, a law student from the University of Chicago, was convicted of kidnapping and killing Bobby Franks in 1924 because he wanted to commit the perfect crime with his partner, Nathan Leopold. In 1936, Loeb was attacked with a razor by James Day.There was no evidence to back Day’s claims, but he claimed it was done in self-defense.
Sidonio TeixeiraVictor Castigador fatally beat Sidonio Teixeira with a large stone contained in a sock. Teixeira was convicted for the death of his 3-year-old daughter.He told police, “I’m wrong to kill somebody, but it’s my job… When I was in my country [the Philippines] I was a member of a liquidation squad. Sometimes, you have to punish evil.”
Mitchell HarrisonIn 2012, Michael Parr and Nathan Mann killed convicted child rapist Mitchell Harrison in a Frankland Prison cell in County Durham, England. Mann cut Harrison’s neck, and he bled out. Parr and Mann planned to eat Harrison’s liver, but they told the court they couldn’t bring themselves to do it.When asked why they killed Harrison, the pair simply shrugged their shoulders. A psychiatrist described Mann as “a remorseless, callous psychopath” who fantasizes about cannibalism and is “one of the most dangerous men.”
Nicholas Anthony RodriguezIn 2015, a riot broke out in California State Prison, Solano, in the city of Vacaville. Over half a day later, the body of Nicholas Anthony Rodriguez was discovered in a trash can. Rodriguez’s body had been sawed in half, and he was missing a number of organs from his abdomen and chest.Although police and prison guards never determined who exactly murdered Rodriguez, they believe it was connected to the riot and that the brawl was merely a distraction. Authorities suspect Rodriguez’s cellmate, Jesus Perez, who is serving a life sentence.
- Photo:
  - YouTube
Donald HarveyDonald Harvey was a serial killer who murdered over 50 people. He worked in a hospital and killed many of his patients either by poisoning them or letting the oxygen run out of their tanks, causing them to suffocate. An unnamed perpetrator attacked Harvey in his Toledo, OH, prison cell in 2017.Guards found him unconscious, and he passed away shortly after.
- Age: 74
- Birthplace: Ohio