I’ve heard accounts of prisoners being sentenced to consecutive life sentences. Regardless of the number of life sentences, the person will still be serving for the one life they’ve got, right?. Are there different legal implications behind multiple sentences?
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A life sentence doesn’t necessarily mean you will be in prison until you die. It may be a 30-40 year sentence but may drop to as little as 25 years with good behavior.
Imagine a person kills 2 people and is convicted. The judge can issue the sentences to be served concurrently or if the crime was especially grizzly consecutively.
Concurrently – the person would serve both sentences at the same time and could possibly be out of prison as soon as 25 years.
Consecutively – the person would have to complete one life sentence before serving the other.
But even then someone who is serving multiple consecutive sentences might not die in prison. Most states have programs whereby once a prisoner’s health becomes fragile enough from aging or other medical conditions that they are no longer a threat, they may be released to a nursing home.
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