Missing Link: Service-Learning as an Essential Tool for Correctional Education

• NCJ Number: 238906
• Journal: Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Dated: April 2012 Pages: 24-34
• Author(s): Jacquelyn B. Frank; Jon-Adam Omstead; Steven Anthony Pigg
• Date Published: April 2012
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the use of a service-learning program aimed at college-level inmates.

Abstract

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 valid for a prisoner's success upon release. (Published Abstract)