The publisher of the book that won the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize in Vancouver this week says its author has a keen ability to capture the pangs of a life of addiction and crime, and the consequences that follow. And he should — Stephen Reid was a notorious bank robber who has spent more than two decades in prison.

The Canadian Press reported Reid was awarded the literary prize for A Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden:Writing from Prison, a book of essays that he wrote from the William Head Institution in Vancouver.

Reid was once a member of the Stopwatch Gang, a group of burglars who stole millions from about 100 banks in North America. The gang's leader, Patrick "Paddy" Mitchell, died in a prison hospital in 2007. In 1999, Reid was convicted of robbery, attempted murder and unlawful confinement for a bank robbery in Victoria and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

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But a second, more literary life brought Reid into the spotlight this week for his book about prison life. The Globe and Mail called A Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden "a gripping read and an intellectual exploration of our flawed penal system."

It isn't his first writing endeavour; Reid also wrote the novel Jackrabbit Parole, published in 1987, from the Kingston Penitentiary, one of many institutions where he's done time, including Alcatraz.

The convict-author joins others who have documented and sold their crimes, including O.J. Simpson, the author of a hypothetical book entitled If I Did It.

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