Xinachtli (Alvaro Luna Hernandez)

Xinachtli (Alvaro Luna Hernandez) is a Mexican American initially framed up in the 1970s for a murder he did not commit. He was politicized in prison where he helped lead a movement for prison reform and became an effective jailhouse lawyer. Xinachtli spent nearly a decade in solitary confinement. After the frame-up was exposed by the Houston Post, Xinachtli was freed in 1991, but the state continued to target him for his activism on behalf of Mexican Americans. He founded the National Movement of La Raza and led a successful campaign to free Ricardo Aldape Guerra, a Mexican national framed for killing a Houston cop, from Texas’ death row. In 1996, the Brewster County Sheriff attempted to arrest him. When Xinachtli challenged the legality of the warrantless arrest, the sheriff pulled a gun compelling him to disarm the sheriff in self-defense. Xinachtli was railroaded for “aggravated assault” and outrageously sentenced to 50 years. He has now been continually confined in solitary for more than 20 years in Texas dungeons.