Ashland University grad named warden for Richland Correctional Institution

During her senior year at Ashland University in the late 1990s, Criminal Justice major Angela (Hunsinger) Stuff had been applying for prison system jobs without any luck.

Then one of her professors told her about an internship at the Mansfield Correctional Institution (MANCI) training as a case manager.

“It got my foot in the door,” said Stuff, a 1999 AU graduate. “I had really good knowledge walking in the door for an interview after graduation. The job I had been interning for was the job I applied for and got.”

She has been working in corrections ever since, most recently being named the warden of Richland Correctional Institution (RiCI) in Mansfield.

“It’s been good,” Stuff said about her newest job in corrections that she began on July 28. “I’ve just been trying to learn about the institution and get to know the staff and people who are incarcerated here. Every institution has a different mission and different things that make them unique.”

Some of the things that make RiCI unique include a CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) program for inmates and the opportunity to train for work on cell towers, according to Stuff.

“This prison is highly focused on career tech,” she said. “We also have Ashland University as one of our partners, so we have a lot of education opportunities.”

Before becoming the RiCI warden, Stuff was the warden at a correctional institution in Lima, which she enjoyed and hated to leave but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to return to the Mansfield area. She grew up in Bellville where she attended Clear Fork High School.

That was one reason she went to Ashland for her bachelor’s degree after earning her associate degree in criminal justice from North Central Technical College (now North Central State College) in Mansfield. She also heard her North Central instructors talk about how AU had a strong criminal justice program.

It still does have a strong criminal justice program that also still helps its students find good internships like Stuff found.

After almost four years as a case manager at MANCI, Stuff went to work as an investigator and unit manager at a women’s prison in Marysville, where she stayed for about five years before returning to MANCI as an investigator. Eventually, Stuff became a deputy warden at MANCI.

That deputy warden job helped Stuff move on to the warden job in Lima, followed by her current warden job in the area, which she said has a lot of opportunities for criminal justice professionals that will hire Ashland University grads and offer AU students internships that can help them get their foot in the door.

Since her internship as an AU student, Stuff said she has enjoyed working in corrections and looks forward to continuing that as the RiCI warden.

“You have to find what makes you happy,” Stuff said. “For me, it’s seeing that you can rehabilitate guys and see they don’t come back to prison, and see that they can become successful members of society. So, I think it’s a win-win that you can help men change their lives and help the community, too.”