Using the conventions of biography, memoir, interviews, and screenplays, Bars and Pens: The Biography of a Prison Writer, tells the true story of Peter Madden and his courageous journey from long-term prison inmate to published writer.

It is with the idea of making one last break from prison that Madden taught himself to write – about his experience on the treadmill of incarceration and of the demons possessing his fellow prisoners. 

The portraits Madden created of himself and his compatriots in his stage plays are unique in the annals of prison literature, and went on to captivate theatre and film audiences around the world.

In an extensive interview, Madden reveals the innermost secrets his behind motivation to become a writer in the worst, and maybe the best environment  possible for the creation of a writer: living hell.