Today's fugitive, prisoner earlier (12)
I believe the answer is:
contemporary
'today's fugitive' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'prisoner earlier' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'prisoner' could be 'con' (abbreviation for 'convict') and 'con' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'temporary' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for contemporary that I've seen before include "current" , "Modern in style or design" .)