1997

On his first day in Oz, he was stabbed in the chest. He went to the hospital, where he was visited by Father Ray Mukada. Mukada convinced Alvarez to care about his pregnant girlfriend and the unborn child. When the baby was born very sick, Alvarez attempted suicide. The baby died, and Mukada helped Alvarez through it. Alvarez's grandfather, in Solitary Confinement, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. When Jose Torres was paroled, Alvarez took control of the Latino gang (El Norte) just in time for the riot, in which he was shot.

1998

When Warden Leo Glynn's daughter was raped, Alvarez cracked a joke that caused the warden to lash out at him. Later, Alvarez learned who raped her and refused to talk. He tried to help Simon Adebisi take care of Peter Schibetta, but failed. When Raoul Hernandez arrived, he took control of El Norte and shunned Alvarez. In order to get back in, Hernandez told Alvarez to take out the eyes of Officer Rivera. When Alvarez did, he was thrown into Solitary Confinement.

1999

A new medical program cut Alvarez's medication off, causing him to hang himself. Officer Claire Howell saved him. Sister Peter-Marie came up with a new program to get Alvarez to meet with Rivera, and he was allowed out of Solitary for the duration. Alvarez, however, walked away when the other members of El Norte were arrested for drug dealing. He met with Rivera, which was a disaster. Hernandez and the rest of El Norte returned, and two tried to kill Alvarez. Alvarez killed Carlos Ricardo, and was put in Solitary again.

2000

To help improve the conditions of Solitary, a one-hour rec time was created. It was cut short when William Giles stabbed Luis Beviloqua and Alvarez. In the hospital, Alvarez met Agamemnan Busmalis, and the two escaped in a tunnel Busmalis had dug.

2001

Alvarez was re-captured at the border to Mexico. He offered to Glynn that he return to Emerald City and be his informer. Glynn accepted, and Alvarez returned to the news that Hernandez is dead and Enrique Morales runs El Norte. Alvarez got into another fight, though, and returned to Solitary once again.

2002

Alvarez was given another chance when the Solitary ducts were being repaired. He returned to Emerald City, where Morales and Carmen Guerra each threatened to have him killed. Alvarez proved to them exactly how crazy he was, and believed that he could survive solo just fine. Then he was beaten up by Giles. As tensions continued to rise between he and Guerra, Alvarez decided to let Guerra stab him in the shoulder. When he recovered, Morales decided that all acores were setteled. Alvarez, instead, asked young Julio Velez to kill Guerra. Guerra killed the boy when he tried, so a guilty Alvarez signed up for a seeing-eye dog training program so he could make amends for having blinded Rivera. Alvarez was the only one who passed the program, and gave his dog to Rivera. When Alvarez came up for parole, the parole board mouthed off to him and he beat one. He inevitably was sent back to Solitary once again.

2003

At Solitary evaluations, the committee agreed to let Alvarez out. McManus wanted to mentor Alvarez and help him change. He convinced Alvarez to be the stage manager of the upcoming play production of "Macbeth", and also forced Guerra to promise to leave Alvarez alone. Alvarez became distressed that his girlfriend wouldn't come and visit him. Alvarez met with an old friend of his, demanding to know if his girlfriend is fucking anybody. When the friend admitted that she was fucking him, Alvarez walked away. Later, he confessed to McManus that he'd wanted to kill the man and normally would have, but instead he'd walked away. He was pleased with himself that he was learning self-control. McManus called Alvarez into his office and informed him that the Aryan Wolfgang Cutler had recently died and mysteriously left all his possessions to him. Alvarez was confused, because he and Cutler had hated each other. In the library, the Aryans told Alvarez that he had better give Cutler's belongings to his wife. When Enrique Morales died, Guerra told Alvarez that he wanted him to lead El Norte. Alvarez turned him down. Officer Murphy informed Alvarez that he was being visited by Cutler's widow. Alvarez met with Cathy Jo Cutler and agreed to give her Cutler's stuff under one condition: she tell him why Cutler had left it to him in the first place. She was as baffled as he, but believed that he'd done it because he'd always liked to screw with her. Alvarez seemed happy as he spoke to her, and they said their goodbyes. Alvarez was among the pallbearers that carried Morales's unclaimed body to a truck. Alvarez admitted to McManus that he knows he'll end up like Morales, but didn't want to. Alvarez wanted to meet the parole officer he'd struck, but the man didn't seem to want to do that. He also met with Cathy Jo Cutler, who didn't seem to want to receive her husband's belongings. She and Alvarez continued to flirt with each other. Schillinger told Alvarez to sign Cutler's property over, but Alvarez told him that the widow needs more time. A drag queen named Torcamata came to Oz and met with Alvarez. Alvarez wanted nothing to do with him, but Torcamata informed him that he is bringing in a new type of drug called Destiny that will take Oz by storm. Alvarez still refused to be involved.