Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) a former convict; occas. attrib see cit. 1990.

1907		J. London Road 104: He was a huge, illiterate brute, an ex-Chesapeake-Bay-oyster-pirate, an ‘ex-con’ who had done five years in Sing Sing.
1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 261: If he’s an ex-con they’ll throw the whole book at him.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 242: All of Larimer Street was overrun with ex-cons trying to sell their prison-spun suits.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 97: New York State doesn’t grant liquor licenses to ex-cons.
1960		Mad mag. Dec. 25: An ex-con with a record longer than his arm.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 798: ex-con – An Ex-convict.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 120: That’s for white ex-cons.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 142: He looked tougher than the rest, a white-trash, low-rider type. Maybe an ex-con.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 75: All the cons and ex-cons who’d love to see him dead.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 54: Perkins is an ex-con wheelman who fucks dogs.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 66: The news excited the ex-cons and professional criminals in the tank.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 43: I reckoned he would sort me, being just another ex-con, / With a bed, with brekkie, / A bit of en suite and free lekkie.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 22: I should never have rented to no ex-con.