Launching Our NonProfit with

Leaders in Business, Community and Government

Utilizing innovative media tools to enhance rehabilitation, re-entry, and public safety, the Ben Free Project confronts the drivers of mass incarceration, recidivism, and the criminal justice system. Through curated education, training, intervention, and self-help curricula for system-impacted individuals, our mission is to create social change while centering the voices of those most impacted by the carceral state.

Meet our team

Meet our founder

Where It All Began

In 2011, while doing time at Ironwood State Prison, Ben was enrolled in Palo Verde College and was having some luck getting his writings published in various outlets. Kasey Stinson, a fellow student, hired Ben to edit and develop some urban novels under Kasey’s independent publishing label, and the two became fast friends. They would often share entrepreneurial dreams. Kasey’s was to open a chain of sober living homes in LA County and expand until he could afford to launch a multimedia center, a plan he implemented before he was even released in 2012. By the time Ben stepped out and breathed free air in 2021, after 18 years in prison, Kasey and his wife Viktoriya had over 20 Victory Starts Now transitional homes, and The World Famous Coin was in full swing filming podcasts, producing music and music videos, and facilitating entertainment events.

Meet the Team

Board of Directors

Benjamin Frandsen

Executive Director

Albert Barreto

Director of Creative Programs

Brashani Reece, PsyD

Director of Carceral Mental Health Programming

Kasey Stinson (aka “Maca”)

Director of Business Affairs/Media Partnerships

Michael D. McCarty

Director of Carceral Programs/Workshop Development

Eric Hudson

Production Manager

Dr. Randall Horton

Director, Performing Arts Programs

Samuel Constante

Director of Data Management & Security

Lydia Morgan

Director of Communications

Anthony Puthuff

Director of Re-Entry Programming

Board of Advisors

Dwayne Betts

Advisor, Literacy Programs

Caits Meissner

Advisor, Creative Writing Curriculum Development

Dr. Adam F. Bradley

Advisor, Internship Programs

Rylend Grant

Advisor, Film/TV/Comic Book Writing & Curriculum Development

Garren

Advisor, Music/ Engineering Programs

Adamu Chen

Advisor, Film/ Journalism Programs

Austin Alexander

Advisor, Poetry/Creative Writing Curriculum Development

Aaron “Showtime” Taylor

Advisor, Self-Help/ ILTAG Programs

Kate Monroe

Advisor, Director of Veteran Programs

Cheryl Armstrong

Advisors, Life Skills/ Distance Learning Coach

James Debacco

Advisor, Mentor/ Re-Entry Program

Matthew Milor

Advisor, Community Reintegration Programs

Sarah Baltazar

Advisor, Multimedia Curriculum Development

Russell Funk

Director of Mentorship/Veteran Services

LaVell Baylor

Advisor, Legislation/ Youth Advocacy in Programs

Alexander Mora

Advisor, Visual Communications/Information Technology

Calyx King

Intern

Staff

How Ben Free is utilizing innovative media tools to enhance rehabilitation

Testimonials

“Ben Free Project is an umbilical cord of top-shelf enabling human capital and experience, aligned in a comprehensive effort to bridge carceral creators like us, to platforms and distribution channels like yours.”

Ghostwrite Mike

CARCERAL PROGRAM DEVELOPER
“Sure, we will push to do all the creative arts, writing, and journalism-based work that platforms the resident genius now hidden from view, but otherwise quaking under the surface of what the carceral state will allow us to present.”

The Mundo Press

CARCERAL MENTOR COORDINATOR
“Validation, mentorship, and dare I say real friendship, are often rare finds for folks in confinement, but Barz, Ben Free, and these brothers that have embraced me, have given me a purpose greater than myself.”

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