Francisco Manuel Villarruel

Francisco Manuel Villarruel is a Latino leader, writer, and advocate for criminal justice reform whose expertise is grounded in both lived experience and advanced academic training. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Francisco was involved in gang life from the age of 13 until he renounced gang affiliation at age 30, totaling 17 years of lived gang experience. He spent nearly half his life incarcerated, with over 17 years of incarceration experience, an experience that now informs his professional work. 

As a youth, Francisco was housed in Los Angeles County juvenile facilities, including Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, and Camp Karl Holton, where he developed firsthand knowledge of gang networks across Los Angeles County. In the adult system, he was incarcerated at multiple California institutions, including California Correctional Institution (Tehachapi), Kern Valley State Prison, High Desert State Prison, and Ironwood State Prison. Throughout this time, he gained extensive insight into the structures of both street and prison gangs across California. 

After more than a decade of incarceration, Francisco transformed his sentence into a platform for leadership and rehabilitation. He founded self-help therapeutic groups that were later certified by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, contributing to a measurable cultural shift in his prison yard. He also served for three years as a Youth Offender Mentor at Ironwood State Prison, guiding gang-involved transitional-age youth toward safer and more constructive paths while incarcerated. 

Since his release, Francisco has earned multiple academic degrees: an Associate’s degree in Behavioral Sciences from Palo Verde College, a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services with a concentration in Mental Health from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a Master’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles. His graduate education emphasized systems theory, community systems, environmental and family systems, juvenile justice policy, and immigration. While at UCLA, he studied mass incarceration and criminal gangs under Jorja Leap, PhD. He also completed certification through Loyola Law School’s Independent Forensic Gang Expert program. 

Professionally, Francisco has served on Community Advisory Work Group meetings in South Los Angeles through the Southern California Health and Rehabilitation Program, helping design services for formerly incarcerated and unhoused individuals. As a Peer Support Coordinator in South Los Angeles, he worked in a multidisciplinary capacity, including direct intervention with gang-involved youth seeking to exit gang life. As a Lifer Coach with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, he mentored formerly and currently gang-involved individuals during their transition from incarceration. His policy and advocacy work includes collaboration with the ACLU, the Vera Institute of Justice, and Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas to address mass incarceration. He has published an op-ed in The Washington Post op-ed, and interned with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity in Los Angeles. 

Francisco’s expertise in gang dynamics encompasses Los Angeles County and extends throughout California. As a specialist, he integrates lived experience within street and prison gang culture with a systems-based social work framework to conduct comprehensive assessments that illuminate gang affiliation, structure, and individual roles within alleged criminal activity.