@article{467040,
      note = {"The narration of this film was adapted [by Dagoberto  Gilb] from the writings and testimony of Fred Arispe  Cruz"--End credits.},
      author = {Mason, Susanne. and Gilb, Dagoberto, and Borrego, Jesse,  and Lewis, Deborah Eve. and Rhodes, Gabe. and Guzman, Joel.  and Turner, William Bennett.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/467040},
      title = {Writ writer [videorecording] /},
      publisher = {New Day Films,},
      abstract = {In 1960, Fred Arispe Cruz, a young man from San Antonio,  Texas, was arrested for robbery, convicted and sent to a  state prison farm to pick cotton. Inspired by the civil  rights movement, Cruz, a Mexican American with only an 8th  grade education, became jailhouse lawyer-- writ writer in  prison parlance-- and the catalyst of prison reform in  Texas. Because he helped other prisoners with lawsuits, the  Texas Department of Corrections classified Cruz as an  agitator, transferred him to the Ellis Unit "the Alcatraz  of Texas," and subjected him to long periods in solitary  confinement. Cruz filed a case against George Beto,  director of the TDC, which Cruz won in the Supreme Court.  This led directly to the 1974 class action suit that found  the TDC system unconstitutional. As told by wardens,  convicts, and former prisoners who knew him, the film  weaves contemporary and archival film footage to evoke the  fascinating transformation of Fred Cruz from prisoner to  activist, and a prison system still haunted by its past.},
      recid = {467040},
      pages = {1 videodisc (54 min.) :},
      address = {[Harriman, N.Y.] :},
      year = {2008},
}