The short answer is yes. Steven Avery is still incarcerated at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. He’s been there for a long time now—serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. Honestly, if you only watched the first season of Making a Murderer on Netflix, you might be shocked that he hasn't walked free yet, especially given the global outcry that followed the show's release.
But the legal system is slow. Painfully slow.
As of January 2026, Avery is 63 years old. He has spent more than half of his life behind bars, and while his name doesn't hit the headlines every single day like it used to in 2015, his legal team, led by the high-profile attorney Kathleen Zellner, is still grinding away. They aren't just sitting around. They are fighting a war of attrition against the Wisconsin court system, filing motion after motion to try and get a new trial.
Where Exactly is Steven Avery Now?
For a while, Avery was held at the Waupun Correctional Institution, which is a maximum-security facility. It’s a rough place. However, in mid-2022, he was transferred to Fox Lake Correctional Institution.
Fox Lake is technically a medium-security prison. It’s located in Dodge County, Wisconsin. For an inmate like Avery, who has been in the system for decades and generally maintains a clean disciplinary record, this kind of transfer is somewhat common. According to reports from people close to him, like his former fiancée Sandy Greenman, Avery basically spends his days in the law library or talking to supporters. He has a surprisingly large following for someone who has been locked up for twenty years.
The Current State of the Appeals (2025-2026 Update)
If you're looking for a "smoking gun" that happened last week, you won't find one. That’s not how these cases work. Instead, what we’ve seen over the last year is a series of dense, technical legal battles.
In January 2025, a state appeals court handed down a pretty significant blow. They rejected Avery’s request for an evidentiary hearing. Zellner had argued that there was an "alternate suspect"—specifically pointing toward Bobby Dassey—based on witness testimony from a delivery driver named Thomas Sowinski. Sowinski claimed he saw Bobby and another man pushing Halbach’s RAV4 onto the Avery property in the middle of the night.
The court didn't buy it. Or rather, they ruled that the evidence didn't meet the strict "Denny" standard required in Wisconsin to point the finger at a third party.
Why the Courts Keep Saying No
Basically, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled that even if the new witness was telling the truth, it wasn't enough to "undermine confidence" in the original jury's verdict. It feels like a catch-22. To get a new trial, you need new evidence. But the court gets to decide if that evidence is "new enough" or "strong enough," and so far, they’ve set the bar incredibly high.
In February 2025, Zellner took the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, asking them to review the lower court's denial. The State’s Attorney General responded by calling the defense’s arguments "increasingly absurd conjecture." As of early 2026, the case is in that quiet, agonizing limbo where everyone is waiting for the high court to decide if they will even hear the case.
What About Brendan Dassey?
It’s impossible to talk about Avery without mentioning his nephew, Brendan Dassey. He is also still incarcerated.
Brendan is at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution. Unlike Avery, Brendan actually has a potential light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a very long tunnel. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 2048. He’ll be in his late 50s by then.
Brendan’s legal options have largely dried up. After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case years ago, his best hope remains executive clemency—basically a pardon from the Governor of Wisconsin. So far, Governor Tony Evers hasn't budged on that front.
Common Misconceptions People Still Have
There’s a lot of noise on Reddit and TikTok about this case. You’ve probably seen the "new confession" rumors. A few years ago, an inmate named Joseph Evans Jr. claimed he killed Teresa Halbach. It turned out to be a total fabrication—likely an attempt to get the reward money Zellner had offered.
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Another big one is the "DNA was planted" argument. While Making a Murderer made the vial of blood with the hole in the stopper look like a "gotcha" moment, the state argued that the hole was actually made by a technician during a routine test years prior. Zellner has since pivoted away from that specific blood vial, focusing instead on bone fragments found in a local gravel pit and the RAV4 key found in Avery’s bedroom.
What Happens Next?
If the Wisconsin Supreme Court denies the latest petition, Zellner will likely look for another "newly discovered" piece of evidence to start the process over. She’s famous for her persistence. She has overturned dozens of convictions, but the Avery case is proving to be her toughest fight yet.
For Avery, life is a cycle of prison routine and legal updates. He’s still claiming innocence. He still has a team of experts analyzing everything from blood spatter to cell tower pings.
What you can do to stay informed:
- Check the Wisconsin Court System website: Look for Case No. 2023AP1556 to see the actual filings. It’s better than reading rumors.
- Follow Kathleen Zellner’s official updates: She is very active on social media and usually posts when a new brief is filed.
- Review the trial transcripts: If you really want to understand why he’s still in, read the original 2007 trial documents. They contain a lot of evidence that the documentary skipped over, which helps explain why the jury reached the verdict they did.
The reality is that unless a court orders a new trial or the Governor intervenes, Steven Avery will likely spend the rest of his life in Fox Lake. The "Making a Murderer" story isn't over, but it’s moved out of the editing room and into a very cold, very stubborn courtroom.