Orange is the New Black: A Call to Action

By Vivian El-Salawy on June 23, 2016

Season 4 of the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black dropped last Friday and much like the show’s previous seasons, it has gone viral on most social media outlets.  New conflicts merge with old conflicts: themes of sexuality, race, class, rule/order, freedom/confinement, identity, drugs/alcohol, and relationships.  But this Netflix original goes beyond the screen to portray an important, often neglected call to action.

Image via YouTube

While the television series’ plot was exaggerated and fluffed up with comedic twists and turns, on a larger scale, this show accurately represents many of the ignored or unconsidered struggles of incarcerated women within the United States.  According to the Prison Law Blog, there are more than 200,000 women currently incarcerated in American prisons and jails.  In fact, the blog states that between 1980 and 2011, the number of female prison inmates rose by 587%.  It is crucial to consider the fact that these women are mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends to many.  The problems within prisons and jails are often ignored as a result of society viewing female prisoners to be nothing more than prisoners.

Image via Voice of OC

Piper Kerman, author of the book Orange is the New Black, came to speak at Florida State University in collaboration with Opening Nights Performing Arts in 2015.  She spoke of her knowledge and experience in our current prison system and other prison-related topics, revealing the truths and lies behind the Netflix original series and reaffirming the significance and awareness of the incarceration of women.  Perhaps one of the most crucial points that Kerman makes is that women in prison are still people, considering the fact that the system degrades them to subjects or even property.   According to the Prison Law Blog, although women are most likely to be incarcerated for property and drug offenses, 73% of incarcerated women in state prisons have symptoms of mental health disorders and over ¾ of total women report sexual assaults by male prison staff.  Furthermore, the Prison Law Blog states that nearly 1 in 25 female inmates are pregnant when admitted into a state prison, and in most states those women give birth in shackles.  Prisons and jails, while serving as consequences for criminal actions, should also be utilized in order to better incarcerated individuals regardless of their gender.

Image via Florida State University

Many of these women end up having to leave their families behind, creating a dent in their marriages or in the lives of their children.  In her visit to Florida State, Kerman listed a multitude of things that your average watchers and/or readers can do to help contribute to the bettering of incarcerated women:

Be a Pen-Pal:

Image via End Isolation

Communication is limited, and while some incarcerated women may still have family or friends to reach out to through visitations or letters, others are alone or forgotten.  Kerman frequently emphasized the disappointment in seeing surrounding inmates receive letters or visits and personally receiving none, at times.  There are currently several pen pal programs that allow you to fill in that gap for many male and female inmates.  Most of these programs have websites that allow you to search inmates profiles by age, race, religion, and so on.  A couple of these programs include www.writeaperisoner.com and www.meet-an-inmate.com.

Books Behind Bars:

Image via Daily Trojan

Created and funded by those of Writer a Prisoner, this is one of the many sources provided for helping inmates, their families, and victims of crime.  “Books Behind Bars” assures that the prisons receive much needed educational materials.  Books are some of the most appreciated donations taken by many prisons nationwide.  This provides hope for many of the female inmates who, once released, will have the ability to build themselves back up.  Books Behind Bars states:

“Our ‘Back to Work’ section allows family, friends and Departments of Corrections officials to post inmate résumés free of charge as they near release. Our ‘Inmate Housing’ section helps offenders in need of a home – often a condition of release.  WriteAPrisoner.com donates a portion of its proceeds from the prisoner pen-pal profiles to our Children Impacted by Crime Scholarship Fund”.

The Bigger Picture

Image via Women’s Prison Association

A little goes a long way, but while being an inmate’s pen-pal or donating last semester’s textbooks to a prison may solve some problems, these are all temporary solutions.  In order to create a more effective impact on the lives of female inmates, there has to be a large scale, long-term change.  Piper Kerman, more than anything, emphasizes the idea of justice reform to where it will change our criminal justice system so that it works properly for everybody.  There are a multitude of organizations that encourage justice reform, but perhaps the most relevant organization is Women’s Prison Association.  The Women’s Prison Association partners with women to build stable and independent lives, works with the whole family to achieve important goals, and encourages  community-based alternatives to incarcerations.

All in all,  while Orange Is the New Black is paced with lovable (or at times, not so lovable) characters, exhilarating adventures, and fascinating events – it does serve a huge role aside from just entertaining viewers.  Many of the problems depicted in the show are real life problems that incarcerated women experience on a daily basis and there is a way for nearly anybody who is willing to get involved, whether they are on season one, season four, or haven’t even seen a trailer of this incredibly enticing show.

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