WRIT WRITER Recieves 2009 Silver Gavel Award

The independently produced documentary “Writ Writer,” described by national news magazine The Week as “a brutal, revealing look at the Texas prison system as well as an inspiring portrait of human endurance,” has won the 2009 Silver Gavel Award for Documentary Film from the American Bar Association. The award ceremony will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on July 1, 2009.

Initially broadcast by the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens on PBS in June 2008, “Writ Writer” portrays the historic conflict that emerged in the 1960s when a cadre of Texas prisoners challenged the brutal conditions in state prisons. The film focuses on inmate Fred Cruz and attorney Frances Jalet, whose collaborative efforts led to landmark litigation for the right of Texas prisoners to assist one another with lawsuits.

Produced and directed by Susanne Mason, “Writ Writer” uses narration adapted from Cruz’s own writings by writer Dagoberto Gilb and performed by actor Jesse Borrego. “Writ Writer” reveals how Cruz’s self-guided studies in the humanities inspired his litigation in defense of the human rights of prisoners.

Prison officials retaliated by subjecting Cruz to untold months of solitary confinement and other punishments in an attempt to coerce him to drop his lawsuits. This attracted the attention of civil rights attorneys like Frances Jalet who came to assist Cruz.  Ultimately, Cruz’s legal battle initiated Ruiz v. Estelle, which led to the most comprehensive court- ordered state prison reform in U.S. history.

“Combining interviews with friends, associates and adversaries with a narration based on Mr. Cruz’s prison journals, letters, legal writings and transcripts of his court appearances, Mason creates a detailed portrait of not just the man, but the times that shaped him,” writes Tom Maurstad of the The Dallas Morning News.

Filmmaker Susanne Mason has served as associate producer of several public television documentaries, including Are The Kids Alright? (2004 Regional PBS); Struggle In The Fields (1996 National PBS); Songs Of The Homeland (1994, National PBS); and Go Back To Mexico! (1994, Frontline, National PBS). More recently, Mason has produced and associate produced short historical documentaries about Austin, Texas, and the Great Society programs of the Johnson presidency.