Tom Runyon was an American bank robber who became a writer while serving a life sentence at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa. He edited the prison magazine The Presidio and wrote the memoir In for Life: A Convict's Story, published by W. W. Norton in 1953. He became known as the "Dean of Prison Writers".
Crimes and imprisonment Runyon began robbing banks across the Midwest in 1932. During one of the robberies an innocent bystander was killed, and Runyon was convicted of second-degree murder. In 1937 he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The cover of his later memoir states that he "was convicted of bank robbery and second-degree murder" and that "he is guilty of both".
Prison journalism Runyon had no knowledge of or experience in writing when he entered prison, but he developed an interest in it there. By 1943 he was the editor of The Presidio, the penitentiary's inmate magazine.
1943 escape On September 13, 1943, Runyon escaped from the penitentiary through a shallow hole dug under high-voltage electric wiring at the back of the prison yard. He was found the next day lying in a ditch beside a railroad track just east of West Point, in southeastern Iowa. After the escape he spent a long period in solitary confinement, which he later described in his memoir.
In for Life In for Life: A Convict's Story was published by W. W. Norton in New York in 1953. The 314-page book is a prison narrative and autobiography. It traces Runyon's path into crime, in chapters including "Bending the Twig" and "Why Not Rob a Bank?". It then describes his life as a lifer at Fort Madison and the fellow inmates he met there. It also covers his long stay in solitary confinement after the escape attempt.
Legacy In 2022, Mark Fullenkamp gave a talk to the Rotary Club of Iowa City Downtown on "The Story of Tom Runyon, Prison Journalist at Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison".
Works
See also American prison literature
References