diff --git a/libpod/boltdb_state.go b/libpod/boltdb_state.go
index 174dffeeb0..3edd6e6d47 100644
--- a/libpod/boltdb_state.go
+++ b/libpod/boltdb_state.go
@@ -1451,7 +1451,8 @@ func (s *BoltState) GetContainerExitCodeTimeStamp(id string) (*time.Time, error)
 	})
 }
 
-// PruneExitCodes removes exit codes older than 5 minutes.
+// PruneExitCodes removes exit codes older than 5 minutes unless the associated
+// container still exists.
 func (s *BoltState) PruneContainerExitCodes() error {
 	if !s.valid {
 		return define.ErrDBClosed
@@ -1472,7 +1473,17 @@ func (s *BoltState) PruneContainerExitCodes() error {
 			return err
 		}
 
+		ctrsBucket, err := getCtrBucket(tx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		return timeStampBucket.ForEach(func(rawID, rawTimeStamp []byte) error {
+			if ctrsBucket.Bucket(rawID) != nil {
+				// If the container still exists, don't prune
+				// its exit code since we may still need it.
+				return nil
+			}
 			var timeStamp time.Time
 			if err := timeStamp.UnmarshalText(rawTimeStamp); err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("converting raw time stamp %v of container %s from DB: %w", rawTimeStamp, string(rawID), err)
diff --git a/libpod/sqlite_state.go b/libpod/sqlite_state.go
index 7c94c6f208..fd207acb36 100644
--- a/libpod/sqlite_state.go
+++ b/libpod/sqlite_state.go
@@ -943,7 +943,8 @@ func (s *SQLiteState) GetContainerExitCodeTimeStamp(id string) (*time.Time, erro
 	return &result, nil
 }
 
-// PruneExitCodes removes exit codes older than 5 minutes.
+// PruneExitCodes removes exit codes older than 5 minutes unless the associated
+// container still exists.
 func (s *SQLiteState) PruneContainerExitCodes() (defErr error) {
 	if !s.valid {
 		return define.ErrDBClosed
@@ -963,7 +964,7 @@ func (s *SQLiteState) PruneContainerExitCodes() (defErr error) {
 		}
 	}()
 
-	if _, err := tx.Exec("DELETE FROM ContainerExitCode WHERE (Timestamp <= ?);", fiveMinsAgo); err != nil {
+	if _, err := tx.Exec("DELETE FROM ContainerExitCode WHERE (Timestamp <= ?) AND (ID NOT IN (SELECT ID FROM ContainerConfig))", fiveMinsAgo); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("removing exit codes with timestamps older than 5 minutes: %w", err)
 	}