The third time Luis Moncada went to prison, he had a lot of time to reflect.
He would stand in front of the small mirror in his cell in solitary confinement, looking into his own eyes. “You’re [expletive] stupid,” he would say to himself.
Decidedly unhappy with the cycle he had found himself in when he was just 17 — a loop of gang activity in Los Angeles punctuated by stints in jail and prison both in the U.S. and abroad — Moncada became determined to change. And when he was released in the 2000s, he left his previous life, along with a booklet of the phone numbers of everyone he knew, behind.
Standing in the Penitentiary of New Mexico’s gymnasium Tuesday morning in a silver suit and the signature skull-tipped boots of his character Marco Salamanca in Breaking Bad, the actor encouraged a crowd of incarcerated people to do the same.
“If you want to change, you can,” Moncada said. “It’s possible, brother.”
The crowd of several dozen men — all serving sentences at the maximum-security facility’s level 2 minimum-restrict unit — looked on, at times launching into a chorus of applause. One man stood to shake Moncada’s hand as he was speaking.
Moncada, also known for his appearances in Better Call Saul and Dexter, relayed his life story and fielded questions from the group — including one about the quality of the beans served as breakfast, lunch and dinner at a Honduran prison, to which he replied: “Best beans I ever had.”
Originally from Honduras, Moncada and his mother moved to California in the 1990s. When he was in high school, a “popular kid” took Moncada — repeatedly bullied for his then-limited English proficiency — under his wing, and he found himself in a gang.
He went to prison for the first time at age 17, serving two years before he was released — then almost immediately ending up in prison again. Later, after he served a third sentence and was released for the last time, Moncada began working as a security guard for an actor on a movie set.
To his surprise, Moncada said, the film’s director and producers convinced him to take a role as a bodyguard in the movie for $500. The gig was part of a program that recruited formerly incarcerated people for TV appearances.
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
“Now, I feel like I was blessed with a second chance,” Moncada said, to an exclamation of “that’s God” by one of the audience members.
Then came Breaking Bad, the renowned Albuquerque-set-and-filmed series Moncada said changed his life. It also instilled in him a love for New Mexico; in an interview after his talk, Moncada said visiting the Land of Enchantment feels like visiting family.
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
Tuesday marked his first time at the penitentiary, a men’s maximum security prison. He said he saw himself in the incarcerated people — many of whom Moncada shook hands with or hugged — as he spoke.
“I have a lot of love for them,” he said.
Conversely, Jorge Villa, said in an interview he saw a lot of himself in Moncada.
“There’s so much more to life,” Villa mused.
Joseph Vigil agreed. A self-described former gang leader, Vigil said he now focuses on education. He passed the GED and received an associate degree, and he is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in business — perhaps to open a nail salon.
Marcus Orange, president of the prison’s Black Awareness Group, said Moncada’s talk inspired him to continue to work toward getting his poetry published.
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
‘Positive influence’
Prison staff pointed to the importance they see in engaging imprisoned people with those who have been formerly incarcerated. While introducing Moncada, Warden Chelsea White said he was not there as an actor, but “as someone who has walked in your shoes.”
New Mexico Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero echoed that sentiment.
“We have done a lot of work over the last few years emphasizing peer-mentorship type of work and that lived-experience component to help positively impact our population,” she said. “ … This is just another exciting way to do it, and people are always happy to meet a celebrity.”
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
When the state Corrections Department initially began bringing in formerly incarcerated people — particularly those who once imprisoned at the facilities where they were speaking — some staff were uncomfortable, Tafoya Lucero said. Once those staff saw the benefits of the peer mentorship, she said, resistance fizzled.
Classes in the department’s culinary program are taught by a formerly incarcerated chef. Another program involves a formerly incarcerated mechanic in Santa Fe.
“If you’re able to get past that, move on, find the good in life and be better, and then choose to be a positive influence on other people who walked in your shoes — I mean, to me, that’s very inspirational,” Tafoya Lucero said. “And I have found it to be very meaningful to the people who live here.”
Lily Alexander is a state accountability reporter for The New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico, focusing on equity and transparency. Her position is part of the New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund, and her stories are available to all readers without a paywall.
