international pen's writers in prison committee works to help persecuted writers worldwide. the writers in prison committee monitors the cases of over 900 writers who have been imprisoned, tortured, threatened, attacked, made to disappear, and killed for the peaceful practice of their profession. it publishes a bi-annual case list documenting free expression violations against writers around the world. this committee was started in 1960 in response to increasing attempts to silence voices of dissent by imprisoning writers,