In the face of authoritarian resurgence around the world, PEN America's Freedom to Write Index documents cases of writers and public intellectuals who have been unjustly locked up for their exercise of free expression. At least 277 of them (in 36 countries) were in jail last year.
Freedom to Write Index documents least 277 writers, academics, and public intellectuals in 36 countries in all geographic regions of the world unjustly imprisoned or held in detention in connection with their writing or other exercise of free expression in 2021. This was a slight increase from 2020, when 273 individuals were counted behind bars, but the past two years, covering the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, both represent a significant increase from 2019, when the Freedom to Write Index documented just 238 cases.