Stanley Frankart: A Servant (Still) in the Business of Redemption
Looking at Stan Frankart’s kind eyes and warm smile, one would never imagine that he did time in the state prison system. But Stanley has been “justice involved” from a very early age – committing his first crime at the age of ten. This led him down a dark path, which included drugs, gangs, and violence – eventually ending with his incarceration at fifteen and a half. Given an adolescent life sentence and ten years as an adult, Stan continued living much the same lifestyle behind bars that had landed him there in the first place; that is, until December 2012 when Christ met him along his “Damascus Road.”
“I was in the middle of a gang fight,” Stanley recalls. “I found myself laying on the ground being jumped, kicked, punched, and stabbed by ten men.”
And it was in that moment Stan realized just how powerless he was over his own life.
“I had been on this spiritual journey,” Stanley explains. “I had been exposed to many different faith backgrounds, and one common denominator in all those faith backgrounds happens to be this person named Jesus. So, as I was laying on the ground, realizing how powerless I was, I just cried out and said, God, Jesus, whoever you are, if you're real, get me off of this ground.”
Five minutes later Stan Frankart walked out of the Richland Correctional Institution’s multi-purpose room a radically changed man.
He immediately gave up his wrongful ways – trading in his gang affiliations for religious ones. But the Lord’s plan extended well beyond that fated day in December. Indeed, Stanley believes “God used higher education as a catalyst in my life” by “calling me to turn my prison experience into my Princeton experience.”
Thus, in August of 2015, Stanley signed up for classes with Ashland University – eventually graduating with an Associate’s degree in May of 2025, and is on his way to earning a Bachelor’s degree in 2026. Of course, also in that time, Stan was released from prison, able to start a family of his own, and establish a successful career – all through “God’s grace.”
Today, Stanley Frankart is busy man. He not only has a wife and two young daughters, but also serves as a supervisor at the Licking County Coalition for Housing and is the co-founder of a non-profit organization, called Young Christian Professionals. Ironically, this latter initiative began at almost the exact same time as Stan’s Ashland journey, which is something he describes as a truly “supernatural” feeling. Yet, through it all, he remains mindful of what got him to this place.
“Honestly, pursuing higher education,” Stanley reflects, “was a call to something greater. It was a call from that throne room of heaven that said, ‘Stan, you've led people in the wrong direction all your life. It's time you start leading them in the right direction.’”
Stanley Frankart thus fashions himself to be a true servant of the modern day, and credits Ashland University for making that “career choice” possible.
“To have a second chance in our education,” Stan explains, provides a “pathway for us to be…the hands and feet of Jesus in society,” so “the world outside can see God is still in the business of redemption.”
Through AU’s academic efforts, Stanley hopes his fellow Correctional Education colleagues “know they're worth more than their worst decisions, worst mistakes, whatever it may be,” and that, ultimately, those individuals realize “you’re worth more than your past.”
The Privilege of Prison: An Interview with Ralph Moorman
When one thinks of prison, few imagine being behind bars as a privilege – that is until they’ve spoken to 55-year-old Ralph Moorman.
Indeed, by Mr. Moorman’s own admission, many “people don't understand how I can call prison a privilege,” but while incarcerated “I was able to lay some good, solid foundations and get in good habits that would transform my life for the better.”
Of course, most would not call Ralph’s early years easy, either.
“Growing up from a dysfunctional family,” Mr. Moorman points out, “my incarceration started multiple times,” beginning at age 18. “I dropped out of school and got into some trouble,” he recounts. “My dad let me sit there” in the Hernando County Jail, and “thank goodness, because while I was there for those six weeks, I was able to get my high school equivalency.”
This first encounter with correctional education did little to dissuade Ralph of his delinquent tendencies, and he found himself in and out of different county jails for the next several years. His final incarceration in 2010 landed him back in his home state of Indiana, where he served a five-year term, and was then immediately extradited to Ohio in 2014 to serve a decade more for another crime.
Yet this fifteen-year span differed significantly from the other time Mr. Moorman spent locked up. Not only was it longer than all of his previous sentences combined but, more importantly, he used that extended period as an opportunity to change!
First, Ralph focused on getting himself together through various “behavioral modifications” and “several programs within the Indiana Department of Corrections” that were designed to correct his “thinking patterns.”
Next up was improving his spiritual wellbeing, which he accomplished with the assistance of Shalom Bible College and Seminary in both Indiana and Ohio.
Finally, he arrived at the last leg of his personal “rebuilding project:” sharpening his intellectual acumen via Ashland University – which is an initiative he continues to this very day.
After “several, several attempts” and with only “two years from the door,” Mr. Moorman began an Associate’s of Arts degree in General Studies with a Communication emphasis.
Ralph attributes his acceptance, as well as the rewarding experience he had with AU’s program during his stay at the Noble Correctional Institution (in Ohio) and his successful completion upon release largely to the efforts of CE staff members.
“They saw me, not what I've done,” Mr. Moorman emphasizes. He goes on to explain that at Ashland, “there’s all kinds of people that are willing to not only just help you” but also “come alongside you.”
This “accent on the individual” has led Ralph to continue his education with Ashland University on the outside as a Bachelor of Science student focusing on Organizational Leadership and Development – a degree he hopes to finish by 2027.
But, for Mr. Moorman, the story does not end there.
“The doors and the opportunity that [my] degree has afforded me is just astronomical,” Ralph declares. “I am applying it to my home church, which is the New Life Pentecostals of Akron” and “I'm trying to launch my own ministry called Freedom Cross Ministry with the good help of my friend, Paul Rector.” Thus, “one of the biggest things that Ashland has opened the door to is the ability to communicate among [this] broader spectrum;” however, it has resulted in more localized conversations as well.
During his incarceration, Mr. Moorman had limited contact with many of his siblings, particularly his oldest sister.
And while Ralph would say this was “for the best,” he also feels “it's kind of revitalizing just to hear, like my older brother tell me that he's proud of me or my sister say that she can't believe the change in me.”
Mr. Moorman’s family stretches from Minnesota down to Florida; yet, on May 9th, all will be congregating in Ohio to watch their brother receive his Associate’s degree. And when they do, they will see a rebuilt man who has successively improved his body, soul, and mind. So, if you wonder how prison can be a privilege, look no further than this journey of transformation. Or just ask Ralph Moorman – he would be quite pleased to tell you!