Kate Thorp

*Spoiler Alert*

When I first joined the crowd and watched the popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black, my reaction was mixed. Yes, the first season accomplishes the goals of a television drama. It is entertaining, has an interesting plot,  contains character development, has strong dialogue, and inspires pathos. The show also provides insight regarding the United States prison system.  As viewers awaited the release of season two on June 6, however, I couldn’t shake the thought that the first season pales somewhat when compared to the memoir (of the same title) by Piper Kerman, on which it is based.

Kerman spent a year as an inmate, primarily at the minimum-security prison camp that is part of the women’s Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Danbury, Connecticut. She tells the story of her time there thoughtfully, with integrity, and with loyalty to the women who she came to know and consider friends. She acknowledges the mistake that she made, as a young woman, when she followed her girlfriend into the world of a drug cartel, resulting in an incident involving drug money that, ultimately, caused her stay in Danbury. Beyond Kerman’s personal story, it is clear that she desires to draw attention to the larger issue at hand— a justice system fraught with injustice. As USA Today put it, Orange is the New Black “transcends the memoir genre’s usual self-centeredness to explore how human beings can always surprise you.”  The problem with the Netflix adaptation of ...