To some people, Alfredo "Fred" Cruz was one of the greatest civil rights activists in all of Texas, and one of the few unsung heroes in American history (he doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry, a sure sign you're being slept on). To others, he was "the most dangerous man in the Texas prison system". The documentary Writ Writer makes director Susanne Mason's views on the subject crystal clear -- and aims to correct the fact that, some 30 years after his groundbreaking and difficult work was completed, Cruz remains largely unknown even in Texas, let alone the United State, although hundreds of thousands of people in every state in the union have benefited from his toil and sacrifice.
Born poor on the bad side of San Antonio, Alfredo Cruz got hooked on heroin at a young age (several members of his family were dealers) and, after accidentally killing his best friend in a shooting accident, went into a downward spiral that eventually led to his conviction for robbery. Handed a ridiculously long sentence, Cruz -- who always maintained his innocence -- could find no one willing to defend a wild youth with no money and dark skin, so he had no choice but to take up his own cause, teaching himself law and filing appeals on his own behalf. It wasn't an easy task; at the time, it was frowned upon for anyone to read law, and Cruz, who rapidly developed a reputation as a troublemaker for daring to take an interest in his own affairs, was often defeated in court when prison officials would confiscate his books, papers and legal briefs, leaving him unable to mount a convincing defense. Not content to take up his own cause, Cruz also became a "writ writer", or jailhouse lawyer, filing appeals on behalf of other prisoners -- an activity that was, astonishingly, illegal under Texas law at the time.
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