Flying Kites: A Story of the 2013 California Prison Hunger Strike

After guards find a book in his cell containing the pencilled name of a suspected gang member, Rodrigo Santiago is "validated" for gang affiliation and sent to indefinite solitary confinement in the Pelican Bay State Prison Secure Housing Unit, or SHU. Life in the SHU is monotonous, isolating, and enraging. It literally drives prisoners insane. Rodrigo resolves to survive. He struggles to maintain a connection to his daughter, Luz, through letters that are his only happiness. As Luz grows u...