Miguel Alvarez - Season 5

Season 5

The prisoners in isolation are let into Em City during a renovation and are told by Warden Glynn that if they behave, they don't have to go back. Alvarez thinks Glynn will have him sent back regardless so he is not in a mood to be well behaved. He offers a truce with Guerra offering him the opportunity to stab him without retaliation in the shoulder. Guerra stabs him near the heart instead but Alvarez lives. Morales tells him that he cannot get back into El Norte, but a truce and no violence pact will be enforced. A young Latino inmate, Jaime Velez, is impressed with Alvarez taking the stabbing like a man unafraid and tells Alvarez that he wants to work as his lieutenant. Alvarez attempts to use this as an opportunity to kill Guerra, but Guerra kills Velez instead.

Looking for salvation in his guilt over Velez's death, he signs up for a guide dog program being offered to the inmates. The woman running the program Alicia Hinden, is wary over Alvarez's history of violence but she allows him to participate when he tells her he wishes to do this to help Eugene Rivera, the CO he blinded. Miguel does a great job with the dog and wants Rivera to have it, but Eugene and his wife Tina are extremely hesitant in getting the dog. Rivera accepts though — he wants his wife to be free from taking care of him all the time. Alvarez gives him a special surprise. Under the impression that the Riveras spoke Spanish at home, Alvarez trains the dog in both English and Spanish commands. The dog went to Rivera after it was called in Spanish and for once, Alvarez felt he did something extraordinarily miraculous. McManus and Alicia Hinden were extremely impressed and both wrote letters of recommendation supporting Alvarez's parole.

Warden Glynn does not believe Alvarez should leave Oz and influences the parole board to sway against Alvarez however. McManus warns Miguel about this, but he ends up holding his head high throughout going to the hearing. The parole board is particularly accusatory and belligerent with Alvarez and continuously questions him in a negative sense. One parole member in particular, Luis Ruiz, the only Latino member on the board is very hostile and asks Alvarez "What the fuck makes you think we should set you free, you little prick?". This causes Alvarez to assault Ruiz, and he is sent to solitary as a result.