18 USC § 1118 - Murder by a Federal prisoner

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s1118"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "18 USC § 1118 - Murder by a Federal prisoner"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
section_number: "1118"
section_name: "Murder by a Federal prisoner"
chapter_number: 51
chapter_name: "HOMICIDE"
part_number: "I"
part_name: "CRIMES"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60005(a), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1970.)"
---


# § 1118. Murder by a Federal prisoner

**(a)** **Offense.—** A person who, while confined in a Federal correctional institution under a sentence for a term of life imprisonment, commits the murder of another shall be punished by death or by life imprisonment.

**(b)** **Definitions.—** In this section—

“Federal correctional institution” means any Federal prison, Federal correctional facility, Federal community program center, or Federal halfway house.

“murder” means a first degree or second degree murder (as defined in section 1111).

“term of life imprisonment” means a sentence for the term of natural life, a sentence commuted to natural life, an indeterminate term of a minimum of at least fifteen years and a maximum of life, or an unexecuted sentence of death.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60005(a), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1970.)

## Editorial Notes

### Codification

Another section 1118 was renumbered .