Posted at 10:11 AM ET, 04/21/2010

Murderer held at D.C. jail for 9 years

By Washington Post editors

A convicted murderer was held at the city jail for nine years, making him one of the longest-serving D.C. jail inmates, The Washington Times reports.

Larry Wilkerson was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in the District. He is now headed to federal prison for participating in three murders, conspiracy and drug offenses.

Inmates are supposed to be held at city jail for no more than a year before being transferred to a federal prison. His attorney had argued that conditions at the D.C. Jail are so bad -- rodents, moldy cells and violent attacks -- that Wilkerson's nine year there were equal to 20 years or more in federal prison.

In the end Wilkerson was sentenced to life in prison.