A lifer well known for his cheerful attitude paroled after serving 18 years in prison. Felix Lucero had been a 16-yearold high school student and a part-time museum maintenance worker before he was sentenced to an 18 years-to-life term.
Today, at age 34, with both a college degree and a certification in drug counseling in hand, he leaves a kitchen maintenance prison job to start a new life in a different world he never saw as an adult.
Before arriving at San Quentin, Lucero did time at two other institutions: Mule Creek and Folsom. But while at San Quentin, he embarked on a mission to prepare himself for his future.
“I am taking San Quentin with me..”
“I think I was seriously involved in about 10 groups while at San Quentin,” said Lucero. He listed his top five groups as SQUIRES, TRUST, Arts In Corrections, Alliance, and ARC. Lucero also graduated from Patten College, operated by the Prison University Project, earning his Associate of Arts degree in 2009 as that year’s valedictorian.
As for the future, “I’m planning on paroling to the city of Berkeley and enrolling at San Francisco State University through Project Rebound,” said Lucero. “I have a job offer to be a drug addiction counselor and I want to continue to work with The Last Mile.”
He is especially proud of maintaining a close relationship with his daughter, Desiree.
As he headed out the gate, his parting words for the men at San Quentin: “I am taking San Quentin with me as a place that has a spirit of change.”
