A new podcast is shining a light on the remarkable and turbulent life of Roger “Mad Dog” Caron — a notorious Canadian bank robber, escape artist, and award-winning author — who first made headlines after escaping from the Guelph jail in the 1950s.
Titled “Go-Boy!”, the podcast is based on Caron’s memoir of the same name. It’s produced by Rob Lindsay of Paradox Pictures in collaboration with podcast host Sam Mullins and Campside Media. The eight-part series premiered on April 8, with new episodes released weekly.
Caron’s story is anything but ordinary. Sent to the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph at just 16 years old, he arrived from his hometown of Cornwall, Ontario, in the hopes that the institution would help turn his life around. Instead, he later wrote, it taught him how to become a more skilled criminal.
The podcast explores Caron’s early years, his experiences behind bars, and the psychological toll of incarceration. According to Lindsay — who also directed the documentary “Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars” — Caron was a teenager forced to survive among hardened men. Life inside the reformatory was brutal, and Caron endured corporal punishment, medical experiments, and frequent solitary confinement.
“They thought it would help control his rage,” Lindsay explained. “But it only made things worse.”
“Go-Boy!” also recounts Caron’s many daring escapes — including his breakout from the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph. In fact, he claimed to have escaped more times than anyone else in Canada. The title of his memoir and podcast comes from the chant inmates would shout when someone made a run for it: “Go, boy, go!”
Following his escape from Guelph, Caron embarked on a crime spree in Toronto, was caught, and imprisoned again — only to escape once more. This cycle would define much of his life. He ultimately spent around 24 years behind bars, moving through prisons across the country, with his escapes and arrests making him a legend in Canada’s criminal justice history.
Despite his troubled past, Caron found redemption through writing. His memoir Go-Boy! won the Governor General’s Award for Literature and offered a raw, unfiltered look at life behind bars — a life he knew all too well.
The “Go-Boy!” podcast brings his extraordinary journey to a new generation, blending storytelling, interviews, and historical insight into one gripping audio experience. Whether you’re drawn to tales of true crime, prison reform, or redemption, this podcast offers a deeply human portrait of a man shaped — and scarred — by the system he tried so many times to escape.
