Tom Richey

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Tom Richey, who grew up in Edinburgh, has, since he was eighteen years old, lived in a tiny cloister cave of misery for the last forty years in the Washington State prison system, he landed there after making a terrible mistake that caused him to kill someone. From there he has created worlds in his books that freed him from the constraints of confinement.

He also helped free others serving life sentences after learning and practising as a jailhouse lawyer. Tom's interest in law took hold after he researched a case of innocence for a death row prisoner in Ohio State. That person was Tom’s own brother. This led to Tom's book, 'Kenny Richey, Death Row Scot' (Bonnier, 2005) being published. Three years after its publication, Tom's brother was freed from twenty-one years on death row.

In 2014, a violent racist prison gang ordered Tom to only represent white prisoners. But Tom knew the Washington State legal system had a greater conviction rate and handed out much longer sentences to people of colour. He defied the prison gang. This led Tom to enduring several years of vicious assaults. It also led to prisoners being freed from unjust convictions and sentences.

Tom's book, 'The Pendulum Swings, Doesn’t It?,' is fresh, sincere, and enlightening. It isn't necessarily a book about prison as much as it is an exposure of a broken system, the story of a man trying to redeem himself, and an inspiration that shows how someone can be their best self in the worst of circumstances. ‘The Pendulum Swings, Doesn’t It?’ is an unsentimental self-portrait without self-pity. We see with honest clarity how extremes of humanity are ever present in prison, the inhumanity most routinely displayed by those in authority. Spend time in the company of a deeply original person and a fine storyteller, who took the ruins of his life and built something worthwhile.

If this writing gig doesn't work out, Tom intends to pick at his navel while contemplating his run of bad luck.

Represented By: Ivan Mulcahy

Tom Richey, who grew up in Edinburgh, has, since he was eighteen years old, lived in a tiny cloister cave of misery for the last forty years in the Washington State prison system, he landed there after making a terrible mistake that caused him to kill someone. From there he has created worlds in his books that freed him from the constraints of confinement.

He also helped free others serving life sentences after learning and practising as a jailhouse lawyer. Tom's interest in law took hold after he researched a case of innocence for a death row prisoner in Ohio State. That person was Tom’s own brother. This led to Tom's book, 'Kenny Richey, Death Row Scot' (Bonnier, 2005) being published. Three years after its publication, Tom's brother was freed from twenty-one years on death row.

In 2014, a violent racist prison gang ordered Tom to only represent white prisoners. But Tom knew the Washington State legal system had a greater conviction rate and handed out much longer sentences to people of colour. He defied the prison gang. This led Tom to enduring several years of vicious assaults. It also led to prisoners being freed from unjust convictions and sentences.

Tom's book, 'The Pendulum Swings, Doesn’t It?,' is fresh, sincere, and enlightening. It isn't necessarily a book about prison as much as it is an exposure of a broken system, the story of a man trying to redeem himself, and an inspiration that shows how someone can be their best self in the worst of circumstances. ‘The Pendulum Swings, Doesn’t It?’ is an unsentimental self-portrait without self-pity. We see with honest clarity how extremes of humanity are ever present in prison, the inhumanity most routinely displayed by those in authority. Spend time in the company of a deeply original person and a fine storyteller, who took the ruins of his life and built something worthwhile.

If this writing gig doesn't work out, Tom intends to pick at his navel while contemplating his run of bad luck.