apNEW YORK (AP) — A new prize for writers in prison has been established by PEN America, the literary and human rights organization.

The PEN/Edward Bunker Prize in Fiction, announced Thursday, will honor works of short fiction.

Bunker had an extensive criminal record and was still in prison when he wrote his first book, “No Beast So Fierce,” which came out in 1973. He was paroled two years later and went on to write such novels as “Little Boy Blue” and to appear in such films as “Reservoir Dogs” and “The Running Man.” He died in 2005.

Winners of the new award will receive a clear Swintec typewriter, the kind used by Bunker.

The Bunker Prize will become part of PEN’s annual Prison Writing Awards, for which other categories include poetry and nonfiction.