This article reports the results of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study conducted by a university faculty member and two incarcerated college graduates in Indiana. The research team designed and piloted a service-learning program specifically aimed at college-level inmates in a maximum security prison. This qualitative study used phenomenology to integrate prisoners' experience and reality toward the creation of a flexible model of service-learning that can be replicated in college programs in prisons throughout the state. The Participatory Action Research process revealed critical insights about postsecondary education in prison and points to service-learning as the missing link between academic knowledge and its application towards civic development, which is vital for a prisoner's success upon release.