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Writ Writer
In 1960 a young man from San Antonio is arrested for robbery, convicted and sent to a state prison farm to pick cotton. He denies committing the robberies, but can't afford a lawyer to appeal his cases. With his eighth-grade education he reads every law book he can in prison and files his appeal pro se. Prison life is brutal – corporal punishments frequently cruel – and he believes it's wrong. So he writes a lawsuit against the prison director, and the walls of solitary confinement close in on him. This program tells the story of jailhouse lawyer Fred Cruz (1939-1986) and the legal battle he waged to secure what he believed to be the constitutional rights of Texas prisoners. Told by wardens, convicts and former prisoners who knew Cruz, the story and film masterfully weave contemporary and archival film footage to evoke the transformation of a prisoner and a prison system still haunted by their pasts.
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