Paul Geidel Jr. was born on April 21, 1894, in Hartford, Connecticut, to German immigrants Paul Geidel Sr. and Annie Prumbaum. His father was an alcoholic saloon keeper who died when Paul was just five years old. The loss of his father and the resulting financial struggles forced Paul and his sister, Agnes, into an orphanage where he spent most of his early years. As a teenager, Paul left school at the age of 14 and began working in hotels across Hartford and New York City to support himself.

By age 17, Paul was working as a bellhop at the Iroquois Hotel in Manhattan. At the time, he was just a working-class teenager trying to survive, with no known prior criminal record or history of violence. However, his life took a drastic turn in July 1911 after a fatal decision that would cost him his freedom for nearly seven decades. He would later become known not for the crime itself, but for holding the Guinness World Record for the longest incarceration of any American prisoner released on parole—68 years and 296 days.

On July 26, 1911, 17-year-old Paul Geidel Jr. committed a crime that would define the rest of his life. Working at the Iroquois Hotel in New York City, Geidel entered the room of 73-year-old William H. Jackson, a wealthy retired broker and hotel guest. In what was believed to be a robbery attempt, Geidel suffocated Jackson with a chloroform-soaked rag, killing him. He escaped with only a few dollars.

Two days later, Geidel was arrested and quickly charged with second-degree murder. At trial, he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He began his sentence at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Despite being eligible for parole after demonstrating good behavior, Geidel was declared legally insane in 1926 and was transferred to the Dannemora State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He would remain there for 46 years before being relocated in 1972 to Fishkill Correctional Facility, which housed elderly and long-term inmates in a dorm-style unit.

In 1974, the state parole board granted Geidel parole after 63 years behind bars. However, by that time, the 80-year-old inmate had become so institutionalized that he declined to leave. With no family, no ties to the outside world, and having never known adult life outside prison walls, Geidel felt safer staying inside. He chose to remain incarcerated for nearly six more years.

On May 7, 1980, Paul Geidel finally walked free at age 86, making him the longest-serving inmate in U.S. history to be released on parole at the time. His only comment to reporters was, “No publicity please,” spoken with a smile. He spent the final years of his life in a nursing home in Beacon, New York, and passed away quietly on May 1, 1987, just days after his 93rd birthday.