Biography
Alberto Aranda is a jailhouse lawyer and Chicano political prisoner currently imprisoned in the Texas. While on the inside, he developed political consciousness in response to the rampant brutality inflicted by the prison guards and organizes as part of the collective Prisoners United for Revolutionary Education (PURE). Desperately trying to stamp out resistance, the Texas authorities sentenced Aranda to an additional 40 years of jail time added to his 18 year sentence for his prison activism in 1989.
This unbelievably long additional sentence was punishment for splashing water onto guard Peter Mills during a prison protest. Aranda has previously accused the same guard of being complicit in the assassination of Black Panther Johnny Swift. In the original prison disciplinary hearings, the guard himself identified the liquid and said it "was no big deal...something you get used to'', but in order to frame up Aranda, this case was taken to the state courts. But since throwing water could only be a third class misdemeanor at worst, punishable only by a fine, Peter Miles and the Texas court system had a sudden lapse of memory. The water became an "unknown liquid,'' presumably conjuring up images of deadly acid or dangerous poisons. Miles testified to the serious injuries he had allegedly sustained. While even real assaults on TDC guards have only been punished by two-year terms, the throwing of this mysterious liquid was to be punished by decades of imprisonment. The jury was packed with Texas prison employees. The court refused to allow Aranda to put into evidence the record of the prison proceedings which identified the liquid in Peter Miles' own words. Miles himself couldn't remember what treatment he had for his allegedly serious injuries or what doctor or nurse had treated him.
