SLEZSKÁ UNIVERZITA V OPAVĚ Filozoficko-přírodovědecká fakulta v Opavě
DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCE
Opava 2020 Bc. Veronika Andrlová
SLEZSKÁ UNIVERZITA V OPAVĚ Filozoficko-přírodovědecká fakulta v Opavě
Bc. Veronika Andrlová
Obor: Angličtina
Social Issues in Orange Is the New Black
Diplomová práce
Opava 2020 Vedoucí diplomové práce doc. PhDr. Michaela Weiss, Ph.D.
Abstract This master’s thesis deals with chosen social issues that were portrayed throughout the seven seasons of a Netflix series, Orange Is the New Black. The Netflix series is based on a memoir called Orange Is the New Black: My Year in Women’s Prison and was written by Piper Kerman. The main part of the thesis is dedicated to analysis of four chosen social issues which are white privilege, mass incarceration and immigration in the United States, and the treatment of LGBTQ inmates. These issues are described and portrayed through different characters in the series.
Keywords: Orange Is the New Black, racial identity, immigration, women’s prisons, transgender inmates
Abstrakt Tato diplomová práce se zabývá vybranými sociálními problémy, které byly vyobrazeny během sedmi sérii seriálu Orange Is the New Black. Tento americký seriál vychází z memoáru Oranžová je nová černá: Můj rok v ženské věznici, který napsala autorka Piper Kermanová. Hlavní pozornost je věnována analýze těmto sociálním problémům, kterými jsou rasová identita, imigrace, hromadné věznění v USA a problémům, kterým čelí členové menšin ve věznicích. Tyto problémy jsou vyobrazeny na osudech různých postav seriálu.
Klíčová slova: Orange Is the New Black, rasová identita, imigrace, ženské věznice, transgender vězni
Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto práci vypracovala samostatně. Veškeré prameny a literatura, které jsem pro vyhotovení práce využila, řádně cituji a uvádím v seznamu použité literatury a internetových zdrojů.
V Opavě dne ……………. ..……………………... Veronika Andrlová
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor doc. PhDr. Michaela Weiss, Ph.D., for her guidance, valuable advices, and patience throughout the process of writing this thesis.
Table of contents
Introduction ...... 1 1 Orange Is the New Black ...... 3 2 Characters of the show ...... 6 2.1 Piper Elizabeth Chapman ...... 7 2.2 Judy King ...... 10 2.3 Poussey Washington ...... 11 2.4 Janae Watson ...... 13 2.5 Tasha Jefferson ...... 15 3 Racial identity ...... 19 4 Mass incarceration ...... 22 4.1 Women’s prisons ...... 25 4.2 Privatization of prisons ...... 26 5 Immigration in the USA ...... 32 5.1 Trump Policies ...... 34 5.2 Immigration Detention centers...... 37 5.1 Maritza Ramos ...... 40 5.2 Blanca Flores ...... 44 5.3 Karla Córdova ...... 46 5.4 Shani Abboud ...... 48 6 The treatment of LGBTQ inmates ...... 50 6.1 Mistreatment of transgender inmates ...... 52 6.2 Sophia Burset ...... 54 Conclusion ...... 60 Bibliography ...... 64
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Introduction Orange Is the New Black is an American Netflix series that was created by Jenji Kohan and takes place in a women’s prison called Litchfield. The Netflix series is based on a memoir called Orange Is the New Black: My Year in Women’s Prison where the author, Piper Kerman, is describing her experiences with the American prison system. The first season of the series premiered on Netflix, in 2013 and the final season seven was released in 2019. Orange Is the New Black is also considered to be one of the first shows along with House of Cards that started the trend of binge-watching. As mentioned above, this master’s thesis deals with the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. However, it primarily focuses on the chosen social issues that were depicted in the series through its seven seasons. The chosen social issues include white privilege, mass incarceration in the United States, immigration in the United States and the treatment of LGBTQ inmates in the prison system. The thesis also focuses on how these specific issues are portrayed through different characters in the series. The first chapter of the thesis focuses on the life of the author Piper Kerman and what did she do to end up in prison. The chapter also describes her memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in Women’s Prison and briefly describes the Netflix adaptation of a said book. Another focus of the chapter is her experiences with the prison system in the United States and what did she learn from her stay in prison. And lastly, the chapter focuses more thoroughly on the similarities and differences between the memoir and the Netflix adaptation. The second chapter focuses on the issue of white privilege and how that can help certain inmates in the prison system in the United States. The chapter also briefly describes how the producer of the show used the white privilege to her advantage in order to tell stories from the point of view of people of color. The issue of white privilege is described in this thesis through characters from the series that I have chosen where I thought the privilege was more obvious and could be easily spotted and therefore described. The third chapter focuses on racial identity. It describes what identity is and its’ different stages. It also depicts how someone’s identity can change once someone is in a group. It also defines racial groups and how these groups can change people’s identities. The issue of racial identity is portrayed in the series through racial groups that are formed upon the arrival of inmates into prison. 2
The fourth chapter focuses on the big issue of the United States that is mass incarceration. The chapter briefly describes the previous events that lead to mass incarceration. It also describes the women’s prisons and the current issues of privatization of prisons. The fifth chapter depicts the issue of immigration in the United States. The chapter starts with the brief history of immigration in the United States and then describes the policies that are put in place by the Trump administration that are affecting the lives of immigrants in the United States today. This chapter also focuses on detention centers that are part of season seven of the series. The issue of immigration in the series is told through four characters. The last chapter focuses on the treatment of LGBTQ inmates in the prison system in the United States. The focus of this chapter is primarily on the issues that transgender inmates face in prisons and how that issue was portrayed in the series through the character of Sophia Burset.
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1 Orange Is the New Black Piper Kerman is the author of the popular memoir called Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Woman Prison. The book was first published in 2010 but gained more popularity after it was adapted into Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (OITNB). After the release of the first season of OITNB in 2013, Kerman’s book got on the New York Times bestsellers list. Piper Kerman is an American Caucasian woman who successfully graduated from Smith College so she is not that type of person that anyone would guess would spend a little over a year in prison, but she did. In 1993 Piper was traveling with her then-lover Catherine Cleary Wolters (Nora Jansen in the book) to Asia and Europe wherein one case she carried a suitcase full of laundered money. After carrying a suitcase full of money Piper realized that this lifestyle was not for her and she escaped to San Francisco where she wanted to forget her previous life and tried to start a new one.1 After five years Kerman got a visit from Customs agents and learned that her former lover named her in order to reduce her time in prison. Piper Kerman was sentenced to 15 months in a federal woman prison in Danbury, Connecticut for drug-trafficking and money-laundering and for good behaviour served 13 months.2 Her memoir can be divided into three main parts and these parts include her time that she spent with her then-girlfriend Nora, time with her fiancé Larry and her experience in a women prison in Danbury. The author also dedicates her time to point out the injustice of the US prison system and racial and social differences. Furthermore, she is also very critical of the prison system and prison guards thanks to her own experience which made her more aware of what is actually happening in the prison system today. After doing her time in prison, she realized that she had to take responsibility for her actions that got her sent to prison. Spending time with other inmates and listening to their stories, made her more aware of how privileged she actually is. Ever since she got out of prison, she started fighting for better conditions in prison and for Prison reform in the United States.
1 Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2011), 317. 2 Whitney Joiner, “Interview: Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year Inside a Women’s Prison,” Smith Magazine, April 6, 2010, accessed August 20, 2019, http://www.smithmag.net/memoirville/2010/04/06/interview-piper-kerman-author-of-orange-is- the-new-black-my-year-inside-a-womens-prison/. 4
When talking about her experience with the prison system in the United States she said that:
it’s really often understood as a fish-out-of-water story because, of course, we don’t really build our prisons and jails to hold middle-class people and upper- middle-class people. We vastly and disproportionately punish poor people, and significantly and disproportionately poor people of color.3
This excerpt from one of her interviews shows how aware she is about the conditions in prisons for people of colour and how privileged Caucasian people in institutions like these are. This is one of the reasons why adapting her book into a series was a good idea since we as the audience get the chance to learn more about experiences from the point of view of people of colour. Hearing about their experiences with the justice system is not something that happens often on TV or in general. The Netflix adaptation was created by Jenji Kohan who is also known for her series Weeds. The first season of Orange Is the New Black was released in 2013 and the last season which is season seven was released in 2019. Even though the adaptation was created by Jenji Kohan, Piper Kerman was still involved in the process and “gave notes that were mostly about if something could or could not happen in a prison.”4 Jenji said that even though “she loved the book and loved the characters in the book there was not enough drama in it for series.”5 Kohan also shared that what drew her to Piper’s story was the fact that “she loves putting different people in one place where they have to learn to live with each other and prison is the perfect place for that.”6 To maintain the authenticity of the prison system, not only did they have help from Piper Kerman, but Kohan along with her team of writers did a lot of research, visited
3 Rachael Franchini, “An Interview with Piper Kerman,” The Dickinsonian, September 27, 2018, accessed August 20, 2019, https://thedickinsonian.com/news/2018/09/27/an-interview- with-piper-kerman/. 4 Clark Collis, “‘Orange is the New Black’: Jenji Kohan talks new Netflix show,” Entertainment Weekly, July 12, 2013, accessed August 20, 2019, https://ew.com/article/2013/07/12/orange-is- the-new-black-jenji-kohan-talks/. 5 Collis, “Jenji Kohan talks new Netflix show.” 6 Terry Gross, “‘Orange’ Creator Jenji Kohan: ‘Piper Was My Trojan Horse’” NPR, August 13, 2013, accessed August 20, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2013/08/13/211639989/orange-creator- jenji-kohan-piper-was-my-trojan-horse. 5
prisons and have read a lot of books and articles just so they could be as informed as possible. 7 The most similar season to the book is the first season of Orange Is the New Black where we are introduced to the main characters and one of them is Piper Chapman who was sentenced to thirteen months in a minimum-security women’s prison (Litchfield Penitentiary) because she carried a suitcase full of money for her then-girlfriend Alex Vause. Alex Vause worked for an international drug cartel. Piper has to leave the new life that she built with her fiancé Larry and pay for a crime that she has committed ten years ago. In prison, Piper is reunited with her former love Alex Vause and struggles to maintain her relationship with Larry and her family. She also struggles with prison in general and with problems that she faces in it. In the following seasons, the show has become its own thing. The main issues that the show focuses on are racial discrimination, Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ rights, mental health, overcrowding in prisons, privatization of prisons and in the latest season immigration issues, family separation, ICE and life after prison. There are some differences between the memoir itself and the Netflix series, but the main themes are still the same. The main difference would be that the series focuses on more characters than just Piper like it is in the book but that is to be expected since it is her memoir. Other differences include name changes of some characters, her former girlfriend is more present in the series than she was in the book and her relationship with Larry and her parents is completely different than it is described in the book. Another thing that the Netflix series does is that it uses flashbacks to let the audience learn more about the characters and their pasts and in certain examples what crime did they commit. As Piper Kerman said it is just an adaptation and therefore there have been made some changes and even though the series portrays some similar events that also happened to Piper herself, the others are just pure fiction.8
7 Christina Radish, “Creator Jenji Kohan Talks ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, Her Research Into Prison Life, and Graphic Sex Scenes,” Collider, July 7, 2013, accessed August 20, 2019, http://collider.com/jenji-kohan-orange-is-the-new-black-interview/. 8 Terry Gross, “Behind ‘The New Black’: The Real Piper's Prison Story,” NPR, August 12, 2013, accessed August 20, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2013/08/12/211339427/behind-the-new- black-the-real-pipers-prison-story?t=1566550937427. 6
2 Characters of the show Orange Is the New Black represents one of the most diverse groups of women (and also cast) among today’s tv shows which is exactly why I wanted to focus on their stories because it is not really often we get to hear them. The series describes how certain characters are still discriminated based on their skin colour, background, race or even gender. This is still very relevant since discrimination of people of colour does not happen only in prisons but also in real life. The producer of the series, Jenji Kohan, knew that in order to be able to tell stories about people of colour, she would need a white woman lead. Jenji Kohan explains this in the following excerpt from one of her interviews:
In a lot of ways Piper was my Trojan Horse. You’re not going to go into a network and sell a show on really fascinating tales of black women, and Latina women, and old women and criminals. But if you take this white girl, this sort of fish out of water, and you follow her in, you can then expand your world and tell all of those other stories. But it’s a hard sell to just go in and try to sell those stories initially. The girl next door, the cool blonde, is a very easy access point, and it’s relatable for a lot of audiences and a lot of networks looking for a certain demographic. It’s useful.9
I do not agree with what the producer Jenji Kohan said in the previous paragraph because I believe that women of color should be able to tell their stories without being tied to a Caucasian woman. Also, her statement is a confirmation that it is hard to pitch series to television executives about people of color without involving Caucasian people. Even though I do not agree with her, I also understand why she did what she did. It seems like she knew that without the Caucasian woman lead, television executives from companies such as Netflix and others would not consider making the series. We also have to take into account that this show premiered in 2013 and in my opinion, times have changed for the better as there is much more TV series where people of color are in leading roles than before. But still, we as a society have a long way to go when it comes to letting people of color tell their stories without pushing Caucasian people in the front.
9 Gross, “Piper Was My Trojan Horse.” 7
2.1 Piper Elizabeth Chapman Piper Elizabeth Chapman is a Caucasian bisexual woman who comes from a wealthy family. She has two brothers which the older brother (Danny) is made up to be this “perfect son”, meanwhile her younger brother (Cal) was the “black sheep” of the family until she went to prison. Her older brother does not make an appearance in the series. Since her young age, Piper was “daddy’s little girl” and always listened to him and tried to make him proud so it comes to no surprise that he was very disappointed with her when he learned about her criminal past with her then-girlfriend Alex Vause. Piper’s parents can be described as uptight and they also cared a lot about their reputation and appearances which was then projected onto Piper and her brothers. Piper graduated from Smith College and started a soap company with her best friend, Polly Harper. The company is called PoPi. Thanks to Polly she also meets her fiancé Larry Bloom. At the start of the series, Piper could be described as uptight, spoiled, manipulative, selfish and also as waspy which is associated with Caucasian rich people. Piper is a flawed character that starts learning not only about herself but also about her privileges while she is in prison. She is also exactly the character that people would not assume would end up in prison because of her background. Since the first season of Orange Is the New Black, Piper had certain advantages because of her race and her background that other inmates do not have. In the first episode when prison gets too much for her, she goes to the office of Joe Caputo who is the Captain of the guards in Litchfield and asks for a phone call to her fiancé which he allows her two minutes. This perk is something that no other inmate had the privilege to have. In one episode, Sam Healy who is Piper’s counselor tells her that they do not often have inmates like her which I assumed meant people with good education and rich parents. It is in prison where Piper finally understands that even though she is more privileged than other inmates, she takes responsibility for her actions. She proves that by saying to her mother that “I am in here because I am no different from anybody else in here. I made bad choices, I committed a crime, and being in here is no one’s fault but my own.”10 Piper also gets to know what it feels like to be discriminated for her sexuality when Sam Healy sees her dancing with Alex Vause and takes her to solitary confinement
10 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 6, “WAC Pack,” directed by Michael Trim, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed August 23, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 8
(SHU) because of it. Galina Reznikov who is known in prison as “Red” reminds Piper that she will not receive any special treatment from her by starving her when Piper insults her food. In season two, Sam Healy grants Piper a furlough so she would be able to say goodbye to her dying grandmother before she passes. Furlough means that an inmate gets to leave prison for the next 48 hours. When she shares this information with other inmates, they tell her that a lot of them have requested one but were denied. Even though in their eyes they had much more important reasons to get one than Piper did. Tasha Jefferson is the only inmate that calls out Piper’s privileges to her face by saying that “Man, Chapman been getting special treatment since the minute she got here. It figures she'd be the first to get furlough.” Piper got the furlough only because Sam Healy “made a few phone calls, moved the process along.”11This is just another example of how her race and white privilege helped her get something that other inmates wanted but did not get. In season four, Piper goes to talk to Piscatella, who is a correctional officer about “gang activity” which is something that affects mostly people of colour, and she knows that. She did it because another inmate started her own panty business that threatens Piper’s business. She is told to keep an eye out on other inmates who could be engaging in such activities and to form a group. Because of that, Piper comes into contact with white racist inmates, and together they form “White Power Group.” Even though Piper is horrified about the whole situation, she still goes along with it because it benefits her. To get rid of her competition, Piper plants panties in Maria Ruiz’s bunk, which results in Maria getting more years added to her sentence. Piper was also the reason why COs started checking inmates (mostly people of colour) panties to see if they are wearing stolen panties. Because of her actions, Piper is branded with a swastika. After the branding, Piper realizes her mistakes and takes responsibility for her actions. Even though, it does not mean that people forgive her for what she did because she intentionally targeted people of colour just for her benefit. In season five, Piper joins Taystee, Watson, Cindy Hayes, and Alison Abdullah who are fighting for better conditions in prison and justice for the death of Poussey Washington. With this action, it seems that Piper was trying to change and actually
11 Orange Is the New Black, season 2, episode 8, “Appropriately Sized Pots,“ directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer, aired June 6, 2014, on Netflix, accessed August 23, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 9
support people of colour by standing with them. But we are proven to be wrong as Piper regrets helping them because she could have spent the time with her girlfriend, Alex Vause. The most important moment for Piper and her character development happens in season six, where Taystee talks to Piper about her privilege. Piper is tired of people picking on her and asks Taystee what it is about her that makes people want to do that, to which Taystee responds that:
They see the sh*t they never had. Money, education, opportunity. That’s why they’re never going to stop f*cking with you — because of what you represent. Then Taystee reminds her that this only happens inside the prison because outside she has the advantage thanks to her race and appearance which is something people of color do not have. Taystee also tells her that if she wants to trade places, she is game since people have been always picking on her. And when Piper asks how she deals with it, Taystee responds that she just survives12
From Piper’s reaction, we can see that this is the first time anyone had actually told her how privileged she really is. It also seems like she is more aware of other people and the struggle they have to face than she was before. Taystee reminded Piper that Piper is against just one person, meanwhile, people of color are against the society which puts things into perspective for her. Being aware of her privilege is a lesson that Piper needed to learn in order to be able to grow. In season seven, Piper gets an early release. After being released, most inmates do not know where they will live or eventually work, which is why sometimes they go back to prison. The perfect example for this is Tasha Jefferson, who got released in season one but went back to prison because she had nowhere to live and work. Piper is privileged enough that she is able to live with her brother Cal and his wife Neri and her father employs her after she is fired from a Thai restaurant. Throughout her experience in prison, Piper has changed a lot and so did her life. Her life is no longer as easy as it was before she went to prison. She is more aware of
12 Orange Is the New Black, season 6, episode 11, “Well This Took A Dark Turn,” directed by Laura Prepon, aired July 27, 2018, on Netflix, accessed August 23, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 10
other people’s struggles and no longer lives in her “pink bubble” as she did before her experience with prison.
2.2 Judy King Judy King is a Caucasian older woman who is a famous celebrity chef. Judy was convicted for tax evasion and she self-surrenders at Litchfield at the start of season three. Inmates at Litchfield were actually following and watching her trial and hoping she would be sent to Litchfield. Actress Blair Brown who plays Judy King said that “Judy is based on Martha Stuart because they have similar jobs and prison sentences, but she is also based on Paula Deen because she is also Southern.”13 Judy King receives special treatments from the start of her sentence because board members of the Litchfield prison do not want a negative press that they would get if something happened to Judy in Litchfield. King gets to have her own big private room with just one roommate (Yoga Jones) even though the rest of the prison is overcrowded. She also has better food and a seltzer maker. When a video of her racist puppet show is leaked online, the prison assigns an officer to her who has to accompany her everywhere so nothing can happen to her. When Poussey Washington is killed in season five, Judy has the perfect opportunity where she can use her privilege of being white, rich and powerful to get justice for Poussey, who was actually her friend. She does not use her influence to help get justice for Poussey and only speaks to the media when she is portrayed as a hostage and it looks like she is injured. When she comes outside the prison to talk to the media, she says that “this prison has put me through unimaginable suffering” which is far from the full truth since she had much more privileges than any other inmate inside Litchfield facility. 14 She gets interrupted by another inmate, Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson, who says the real truth about her stay in prison which is that:
13 Jackie Strause, “‘Orange Is the New Black’s’ Newest Inmate Tackles Martha Stewart, Paula Deen Comparisons,” The Hollywood Reporter, June 16, 2016, accessed August 23, 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/orange-is-new-black-star-judy-king- comparisons-martha-stewart-paula-deen-903457. 14 Orange Is the New Black, season 5, episode 5, “Sing it, White Effie,” directed by Phil Abraham, aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix, accessed August 25, 2019, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 11
Judy King cannot speak for the inmates of this prison. She was kept separate from us, held in a private room with better treatment and a seltzer maker. And moments after our friend Poussey Washington was murdered by a guard for doing nothing wrong, Judy King was packing her bags to go home on an early release. Because she is rich. And white. And powerful.15
Tasha’s speech puts it into perspective that a white, powerful, and rich woman cannot speak for poor people of colour because she is not the one who is being discriminated against and targeted like they are. This was also the perfect moment for Judy King to speak up about the issues that people of colour have to face in prisons because she had the attention of the media and could have made a powerful speech in support of her friends, but once again she did not. Unless white people that have certain powers start speaking up about the injustice and discrimination of people of colour, nothing will change because they will be fighting the fight alone. Judy King gets mentioned in the last season because she writes a memoir about her experiences in Litchfield and donates a copy to each inmate of Litchfield Max. Tasha Jefferson also asks her for help with setting up a project called “Poussey Washington Fund” that would help inmates manage their finances so they would not return to prison because of financial problems. Judy actually agrees to help Tasha set up the project. With this action, Judy King proves that she changed, even though it does not change or excuses her past actions. This is a move to the right direction for Judy and her character development.
2.3 Poussey Washington Poussey Washington is an African-American woman who was an “army brat” because her father served in the United States Army. Because of her father’s job, Poussey along with her family spend a lot of time in foreign countries such as Germany and France. Poussey was an only child, and her mother died when she was already in prison. She was sentenced for the possession of drugs. Throughout the seasons, Poussey was very intelligent, caring, loyal, and loved to joke around with her friends, mainly Tasha Jefferson.
15 Orange Is the New Black, “Sing it, White Effie.” 12
Since the first season, Poussey alongside Tasha Jefferson was always making jokes or playing their alter-egos Amanda and Mackenzie. Where Amanda and Mackenzie were two rich white girls. The first storyline where Poussey is on her own is in season three when she gets depressed. Her depression started because she missed her mom and she drowns her sorrows in alcohol. Her main storyline happens in season four which is also her last one. Poussey gets suffocated by a CO during a peaceful protest against another CO, Piscatella. And even though she tried to tell the CO Bailey that she cannot breathe, no one heard her or did anything about it. Her death was inspired by a real-life event that happened in 2014 to Eric Garner, and since then to many other unarmed African-Americans. Eric Garner was accused of selling cigarettes illegally but refused to be handcuffed which lead to officers holding him down in a chokehold. His last words were the same as of Poussey Washington which were “I cannot breathe” and became a motto for the Black Lives Matter movement. People across the U.S. started protesting and demanding police reform which resulted from the growing tension between law enforcement and unarmed African-Americans.16 After fighting for justice for a few years, police officer Daniel Pantaleo who was responsible for holding Eric Garner in a chokehold got fired from the Police Department. Additionally, he was also stripped of his pension benefits. This was announced last year which was five years after the tragic death of Eric.17 When asked about her character’s death Samira Wiley (who plays Poussey Washington) said that she wishes people would transfer their anger from a fictional character and a television show to all the tragedies that are happening in real life like the death of Alton Sterling or Eric Garner.18 After Poussey’s death, Director of Human Activities (Joe Caputo) talks to the press about her death but during his speech Caputo made several mistakes, like not saying
16 Melissa Chan, “Officer in Eric Garner Death Fired After NYPD Investigation. Here's What to Know About the Case,” TIME, August 19, 2019, accessed August 26, 2019, https://time.com/5642648/eric-garner-death-daniel-pantaleo-suspended/. 17 Ashley Southall, “Daniel Pantaleo, Officer Who Held Eric Garner in Chokehold, Is Fired,” New York Times, August 19, 2019, accessed August 26, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/nyregion/daniel-pantaleo-fired.html. 18 Marlow Stern. “Samira Wiley on Poussey’s Powerful—and Controversial—OITNB Death and Living Out Loud,” Daily Beast, April 13, 2017, accessed August 26, 2019, https://www.thedailybeast.com/samira-wiley-on-pousseys-powerfuland-controversialoitnb- death-and-living-out-loud. 13
Poussey’s name, blaming inmates and not the prison system. He also defended the guard and even tried to make him up to be a victim, when he was the one who was responsible for the death of Poussey Washington. The most important reaction to his speech can be seen from Tasha Jefferson who was Poussey’s best friend and was the only one who heard what Caputo said about Poussey’s death. Her reaction to his speech is full of frustration with the system and how it fails people of colour. It also shows how racial discrimination can push people past their limits when there is not a proper justice served. Caputo’s speech along with the treatment that inmates had to endure thanks to the new COs, pushed inmates past their limits and that resulted in a riot. Taystee along with the help of Judy King gets to start up a fund in Poussey’s name, which is called “the Poussey Washington fund”. The aim of this fund is to show inmates who are getting released from prison how to properly manage their finances so they would not return to prison because of financial problems.
2.4 Janae Watson Janae Watson is an African-American woman who is very intelligent and loves running. From a young age, she knew that because of her race she would have to work twice as hard as others. She is very proud of her heritage and hates when someone disrespects or makes fun of her culture. This started with a class trip to a prestigious school where Janae saw a school play called “Dreamgirls” which in the original consist of people of colour but in this case, the lead actresses were Caucasian girls with afro wigs. This situation made her feel unmotivated in her schoolwork because as she mentioned to her teacher “Why even bother playing a game that’s rigged?”. She knew that Caucasian students and students from prestigious schools will always be ahead of her. She was also very aware of how different the school system is in other states and how privileged some people are. When she was talking to her teacher she mentioned that “they got so much culture, they ain’t even knowin’ they stealin’ ours” which just shows that at a young age, Janae already knew that Caucasian people stole cultures from people of colour. That is why she focused her attention on running which was her passion. Janae grew up in a strict household where her father did not want her to get involved with boys which made her feel isolated and jealous of her friends who were not as restricted as she was. She got involved in criminal activities in college when a boy 14
expressed an interest in her. Together they robbed a bank, but only Janae got caught and was sent to prison. 19 Since her arrival at Litchfield prison, Janae is angry, reserved but she is also very defensive when it comes to her culture. In the first season, Janae experienced racist slurs when CO Luschek who is a Caucasian man assigns her to give out tools from a cage and compares her to a “monkey.” When she gives out the tools, he says to her that “the monkey can dance.”20 When a screwdriver goes missing, Luschek blames Janae because she was the one who was put in charge of the tools. Even though he was the one who was responsible and should have checked that everything was in its place. Instead the blame falls on Janae. This decision made Janae angry to the point where she gets sent to Security Housing Unit (SHU). She got sent to SHU to calm down and also so she would not be able to hurt herself or anyone else. Another inmate Yoga Jones helps Janae with her unsolved anger issues and these two become friends. Jones give her advices on how to deal with the anger that Janae is feeling which usually consist of physical activities. This friendship however ends in season two. In season five, Janae is proudly supporting her friend Tasha Jefferson in the fight for justice for their friend, Poussey Washington. Janae is also the only one who has a problem when they want to send Judy King to talk to the press about the situation in Litchfield because she does not think that Judy King is one of them. Or should be talking about these issues. At the end, when Tasha Jefferson gives the speech instead of Judy King, Janae is brought to tears. After the speech, Janae says to Tasha that “You did our girl right, T” which alludes to the opinion that Poussey Washington would be proud of how they are standing up for her and also for people of colour.21 The audience sees Janae Watson for the last time in season seven, where she is seen in prison in Ohio practicing running.
19 Orange Is the New Black, “Sing it, White Effie.” 20 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 4, “Imaginary Enemies,” directed by Michael Trim, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed February 11, 2020 https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 21 Orange Is the New Black, “Sing it, White Effie.” 15
2.5 Tasha Jefferson Tasha Jefferson is an African-American woman who grew up in foster care and group homes. After meeting Vee and learning that she works as a drug dealer, Tasha does not want to have anything to do with her but does not have any other chance as she does not want to stay in another group home. When Vee realizes that Taystee is good with numbers, she lets her work as her accountant. Working for Vee is what gets her sent to prison on a trafficking heroin charge. Tasha Jefferson is known in prison as Taystee. During her stay in prison, she worked in a library where she helped organize books. In the first season, she gets the opportunity to get released on parole. Before it is decided that Tasha would be released, her fellow inmates and friends try to help her with preparation for the release. Poussey and Cindy Hayes help her prepare for the interview and Sophia Burset does her hair so she would look more presentable and serious. Before Taystee gets released, she expresses her fear about being in the real world and being alone by saying that “I’m scared. Sh*t, I been in institutions my whole life. I was a ward of the state till I was 16 then juvie. I got no skills… No one’s gonna take me serious.”22 From what Taystee is saying we can deduce that Taystee is not ready to be in the real world that soon and that prison did not offer her any help. When Taystee gets released from prison it does not go the way she thought it would. She realizes that adjusting to the real world is not as easy as it looks when you do not have a certain support system and when the system does not care about you. Taystee ends up sleeping on the floor of her second cousin who already has enough people in her flat and who does not want Taystee there. When the real-life gets too much for Taystee and she cannot adjust, she violates her parole and ends up back in Litchfield. When Poussey Washington asks her why she came back Taystee tells her that:
22 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 9, “Fucksgiving,” directed by Michael Trim, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed February 11, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 16
Minimum wage is some kinda joke. I got part-time workin’ at Pizza Hut, and I still owe the prison $900 in fees I gotta pay back. I ain’t got no place to stay. I was sleepin’ on the floor in my second cousin apartment like a dog, and she still got six people in two rooms. Everyone I know is poor, in jail, or gone. Don't nobody ask about how my day went. I know how to play it here. Where to be, and what rules to follow. I got a bed. 23
Based on what Taystee said to Poussey, we can assume that if former inmates do not have a strong and supportive foundation, they will eventually end up back in prison. Therefore, it would be a good idea if prisons had projects for inmates where they would learn how to cope with problems that they may face when they get released from prison. This could help inmates to adjust to the real-life so they would not end up back in prison like Tasha Jefferson did. In season four, Taystee’s best friend Poussey is suffocated by a CO Bailey. Taystee along with other inmates are waiting for the confirmation of his arrest for the murder of their fellow inmate and friend. Instead of that, Taystee hears Joe Caputo’s speech in which he does not mention Poussey’s name and supports CO Bailey. This speech sends Taystee over the edge which results in a prison riot. In season five, Taystee becomes the speaker of the riot when it comes to the press and police. Taystee also wants to use Judy King and her popularity to tell the story of what really happened to Poussey Washington. The only person that has a problem with Judy King telling the story is Janae Watson. Janae does not want a white woman to tell stories of people of colour and talk about experiences that she did not experience. Taystee then decides that Judy King should not be the one who addresses the press since they have nothing in common with her. In the first part of Taystee’s speech she addresses the privileges that Judy King had because of her race and fame. In the second part of the speech Taystee focuses on the whole prison system and how unfair it is to people of colour. She started the second part of the speech with:
23 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 12, “Fool Me Once,” directed by Andrew McCarthy, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed February 11, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 17
Our fight is with a system that don’t give a damn about poor people and brown people and poor brown people. Our fight... is with the folks... who hold our demands in their hands. Which you people need to read, by the way, and stop watching this fool shit comin’ out of here online and get a hold of our demand list because those demands are fair and necessary and show that we intend to keep this demonstration peaceful and focused on change. 24
With her second part of the speech, Taystee wanted to focus on the fact that women in prison are still people and that they should be treated as such. She also points out how no one was really interested in what their demands were or if they even had any. Taystee ends this powerful speech with the fact that she lets Judy King go and tells the press that she is not a prisoner. After the speech, Taystee is able to negotiate with Natalie Figueroa who was previously the Warden of Litchfield. Natalie was sent to prison to talk about their demands. They are able to agree on all of the demands apart from one. The one demand that they do not agree on is that CO Bayley would be charged for the murder of Poussey Washington. Because the negotiation was unsuccessful SWAT team was called to get everyone out of the prison. Taystee along with other inmates is hiding in a bunker where CO Piscatella is hold hostage. When Piscatella leaves the bunker, he is shot by an inexperienced officer who did not know who Piscatella was or if he was armed. In season six, Taystee is accused of the murder of Piscatella and because of that, she gets beat up by other COs who want to seek revenge. Suzanne and Cindy saw that Piscatella was killed by an officer from the SWAT team, but in order to protect themselves do not tell anyone. Cindy even tells that it was Taystee who shot Piscatella in order to get immunity and to be able to see her daughter sooner. Cindy figures out too late that the officer who interrogated her manipulated her in order to get her to testify against Taystee. At the end of the season Taystee gets wrongfully convicted of a second- degree murder of Piscatella. In season seven, Taystee is very depressed to the point where she tries to commit suicide multiple times. She finds her calling when she starts tutoring inmates for their GED tests. Taystee along with Judy King start a fund that will give loans to inmate that
24 Orange Is the New Black, “Sing it, White Effie.” 18
will be released soon. The fund is called “Poussey Washington Fund” and it will also help inmates learn how to manage their finances properly so they will not have to go back to prison again. At least not because of financial problems. Helping inmates learn more about their finances and how to manage them was inspired by a real-life story of Curtis Carroll who started a financial-literacy program at the prison he was imprisoned at. Producer of the show said that “this part of her storyline was really important because it would showcase that Taystee was still hopeful” even though she had a life sentence. 25
25 Maria Elena Fernandez, “How Orange Is the New Black Said Goodbye to the Litchfield Inmates,” Vulture, July 30, 2019, accessed February 12, 2020, https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/orange-is-the-new-black-character-endings.html. 19
3 Racial identity Before discussing racial identity, it is important to explain what identity actually is. Identity indicates who that particular person is, what qualities do they have and what makes them different from anyone else. 26 It follows that peoples’ identity is not permanent and can change at any time due to numerous factors. Some of the usual factors could be people who we associate with, location, culture, religion and etc. Another important factor in changing someone’s identity is how individuals act in a group. Darity Jr. et al. claim that “individuals tend to” identify with groups that they perceive as similar to them. The similarity does not have to be determined by physical characteristics such as phenotype or sex.27 The emergence of groups requires a shift in “individual’s self-perception from personal to racial identity.” As a matter of fact, individuals experience changes in the nature and intensity of attachment to a composite Black identity. Most of these changes can be determined by social parameters because all individuals choose their groups based on which one will maximize their lifetime satisfaction.28 Individuals can go through several stages of racial identity and each stage has different intensities and characteristics. The intensity of identification with a racial group can be changed not only by critical life events, but also by individuals themselves. Members of a racial group can also alter their identification in order to imitate the behaviour of other members of the same racial group. Darity Jr. et al. also states that “information used by individuals to form decisions regarding identity at any given point in time originates from a variety of sources including families, friends, neighbors, coworkers, group affiliations, media, and so on.”29 There is also a possibility of an interior-group conflict once individuals form their social identities. Individuals value the opinion that other members of their racial group have on them and they also want to be acclaimed. However, when it comes to interacting with other racial groups, discrimination is a way how social groups give status to their
26 Cambridge Dictionary, s.v. “Identity,” accessed February 12, 2020, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/identity?q=identity+. 27 William A. Darity Jr. et al., “The economics of identity: The origin and persistence of racial identity norms,” Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization 60.3 (2006): 286. 28 Darity Jr. et al., “The economics of identity,” 287. 29 Darity Jr. et al., “The economics of identity,” 287. 20
members. 30 This behaviour could lead to hatred towards other racial groups and that could result in attacks between other groups. It is necessary to mention that for an individual it is not enough just to feel identified with a group to actually become a member, but that they need to be accepted by every single member of that particular group. The acceptance between other members also strengthens the bond within the community. 31 But there are also instances when certain individuals are not accepted within the group by other members. One of the instances can be if an individual does not share the same physical features as the rest of that particular group. Because of differences like this, they might end up in groups that they do not want to be in or where they do not belong.32 That is why it is important to let individuals create their own identities without forcing them into strictly defined racial groups. In the series Orange Is the New Black we can find examples of dividing inmates in Litchfield Penitentiary Minimum Security into racial groups. Caucasian female inmates live in Cell Block A which is also called “The Suburbs”. African-American female inmates live in a Cell Block B which is called “The Ghetto” and Latinas live in a Cell Block C that is nicknamed “Spanish Harlem.” Inmates who come to prison are immediately made aware of the racial groups that already exist in the Litchfield prison. An example would be that when a Caucasian inmate named Lorna Morello brings new inmates to prison, she assigns them to their racial group based on their race. So, for example, Piper Chapman who is a Caucasian woman is assigned to De Marco who is another Caucasian woman, but on the other hand Dayanara Diaz who is a Latina is assigned to another Latina, Gloria Mendoza. When assigning them to their groups, Lorna tells Dayanara that Gloria would be the one “helping her” and not Lorna. As already mentioned above, there can be certain conflicts within a group that can result in individuals not being accepted in that particular group. In this case, Gloria has a problem with Dayanara because she does not speak Spanish, but everyone else in the
30 Darity Jr. et al., “The economics of identity,” 287. 31 Cookie W. Stephan, and Walter G. Stephan, “The Measurement of Racial and Ethnic Identity,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24, no. 5 (September 2000): 544. 32 Stephan, and Stephan, “The Measurement of Racial and Ethnic Identity,” 544. 21
group does. Even though Dayanara does not speak Spanish and the other members make fun of her because of that, she is still accepted to the group.33 There is also a perfect example of how individuals within their group take care of one another. In this case, it would be when Lorna Morello gives only Piper Chapman tissues and a toothbrush and not the other newcomers. Lorna also gives Piper a reason why she gave her those things by saying that they “look out for their own” and she also explains to Piper that “it’s tribal. Not racist.” 34 Throughout the first episode, Piper is reminded that she should associate herself with only white people. Like for example in a cafeteria she was told to “go sit there, she’s a nice white lady” so she would not sit at the “wrong” table with the “wrong” people. And later, when she was on the phone with her fiancé, she said that she “only spoke to white people” and that she would borrow some shampoo from “other white people.”35 This proves that from the moment Piper got into prison, she was automatically assigned to a racial group without her consent. Another example of racial groups and how they work in prison is shown in an episode called “WAC Pack”, where inmates are campaigning for prisoners’ council. Lorna Morello explains to Piper that “you can only vote within your race or your group” and then says that she should “just pretend it’s the 1950s because it makes it easier to understand” then continues that “everyone elects a representative from their own tribe” which means that the groups include “white, black, Hispanic, golden girls and others.” Piper is the one who sees the flaws in this system and points it out by saying that “not everyone wants the same thing.”36 The episode “WAC Pac” is the best example from which the audience of the series can see how the racial groups work within the prison walls. It also portrays what the relationships are like between the individuals within a particular racial group and how other racial groups act towards each other.
33 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 1, “I wasn’t ready,” directed by Michael Trim, aired July 11, 2013 on Netflix, accessed February 13, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 34 Orange Is the New Black, “I wasn’t ready.” 35 Orange Is the New Black, “I wasn’t ready.” 36 Orange Is the New Black, “WAC Pack.” 22
4 Mass incarceration
The roots of mass incarceration can be traced to a time when “the crime rates were rising.” The first instances of an increase in violent crimes were recorded during the 1970s. According to Wilson and Levitt, the mass incarceration helped to reduce the crime rates and make cities safer because the United States had “a serious problem in the late 1970s and 1980s.” But there are also critics of mass incarceration who believe that the increase in crime rates and mass incarceration can be caused by three main reasons. The reasons are economic, political and philosophical.37 Ruth Wilson Gilmore is one of the advocates who believe that the rise of incarceration is because of economic reasons. According to her, the rise of incarceration can be linked to the globalization because the late 1970s meant crisis for the U.S economy with corporate profits falling. The U.S government responded to this crisis by “abandoning social welfare in favor of corporate welfare.” It also meant that more resources went into security which also includes “expansion of prisons and jails.” This strategy was also supported by political leaders who focused their campaigns on crimes and as a solution promoted a tough approach of “law and order.” Many companies started their manufacturing offshore which meant an increase in unemployment. For unemployed people, criminal activities were one of the ways how to get any money. Once mass incarceration took off, political leaders and people continued to support the prison expansion because it meant a new source of money and also jobs for many people. Because of these new “economic benefits and profit possibilities” certain people and critics refer to the prison system as “a prison-industrial complex” which is a system that only benefits a small group of people at the expanse of the majority.38 Michelle Alexander is one of the people who believe that the increase in incarceration happened because of political reasons. She believes it because the political agenda was used as a motivation to prompt changes in the criminal legal system after 1980. She claims that the success of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s revealed “fear and insecurity” among the Caucasian population. President Richard Nixon
37 James Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time (New York: The New Press, 2015), 18. 38 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 18–20. 23
and President Ronald Reagan used this fear to win over Caucasians to the Republican Party.39 President Nixon started the war on crimes when he stated that “Doubling the conviction rate in this country would do more to cure crime in America than quadrupling the funds for . . . war on poverty.” During his presidency, he increased the budget for law enforcement. Even though he tried to reduce crime rates, he failed to do so because other issues diverted the attention from it.40 President Reagan supported the law and order even more than President Nixon did. He also escalated Nixon’s War on Drugs which Nixon started because he viewed drug abuse as a “public enemy number one.” Reagan had a campaign to pursue people to see the consumption and sales of illegal drugs as a critical political issue. He was successful in his efforts to pursue people into thinking that drugs were a major problem. He shared his opinions about the drug problem with his wife Nancy Reagan who had her own campaign “Just say no.” This campaign was created to raise awareness about drug and alcohol abuse between children in schools.41 Precisely because of the success of the civil rights movement, no politician would get any votes and support in the 1970s and 1980s if they were explicitly racist. That is why conservatives used criminal as a “symbolic way of referring to African-Americans.” So, when Caucasian people heard the word criminal, they would automatically image an African-American.42 The important change in criminal justice philosophy happened after 1980. In previous decades the goal of the prison system was rehabilitation. At first “prisons, jails and juvenile justice facilities” were seen as facilities that provide people with a second chance through “education and job training programs.” But with the increase of mass incarceration, these views have changed. Instead of rehabilitation, the general public wanted the system to punish people because as prisoners who broke the law, they did not deserve a second chance. So, the punishment became being isolated from society. There was also a change in the reason why people committed crimes. In the 1970s crimes were linked to social problems, but in the 1980s it became about individual responsibility for
39 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 21. 40 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 29. 41 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 61. 42 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 21. 24
the crime. This meant that people no longer did crimes because they had no money, but because they made bad choices.43 In 1986 during Reagan’s presidency, Congress passed an act called “The Anti- Drug Abuse Act” that “established extremely long mandatory minimum prison terms for low-level drug dealing and possession of crack cocaine.”44 This act affected primarily African-American communities because “crack was largely an inner-city issue” and because it was cheaper than powder cocaine. It is also important to mention that “the mandatory sentencing penalties for crack were far harsher than those for powder cocaine.” Because of this a lot of African-American men have been taken away from their families and send to prison for a long time which helped increase the number of people in prisons.45 President Bill Clinton also helped with the increase in the prison population. In 1994, he introduced the “Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994” which funded $9.7 billion into prisons and helped to increase the involvement of the private corrections corporations. Throughout his presidency, President Clinton created legal barriers for people “with felony drug convictions” even after they served their time. One of these barriers was a “one strike and you’re out” policy that made it possible for housing authorities to deny anyone with a drug conviction. This affected people that have already completed their time and wanted to be reunited with their families.46 All these policies that were issued over the past years have helped to shape and amplify the mass incarceration in the United States into what it is now. Non-profit Prison Policy Initiative was created to help analyze data about the criminal justice system in the United States to provide more information about mass incarceration and to raise awareness about “how mass incarceration punishes our entire society”. According to a report from 2020, Prison Policy Initiative states that the United States holds almost 2,3 million people in “prisons, juvenile correctional facilities, local jails, immigration
43 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 21-22. 44 Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: New Press, 2010), 86. 45 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay, (Kandoo Films, 2016), Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/80091741. 46 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 67. 25
detention facilities, Indian Country jails, military prisons, civil commitment centers, and state psychiatric hospitals.”47
4.1 Women’s prisons In the system of mass incarceration, women’s prisons and jails in the USA are considered to be important and are among those elements that are rapidly “expanding in the system.” Most of the population of these facilities consist of poor women of colour.48 According to a report from 2019, the Prison Policy Initiative claims that there is a total of 231 000 women incarcerated in the United States. According to the report, 101 000 women are held in local jails and 99 000 of them are held in state prisons. The remaining 31 000 women are held in immigration detention centers, federal jails, and prisons.49 The population of women’s prisons primarily consists of poor people of color which is the same as in men’s prisons. African-Americans and Hispanics make up around 46% of the female prison population, meanwhile, Caucasian inmates are still a majority with 54%, but the difference is getting smaller. Women incarcerated in prisons have low levels of education and also do not have enough economic stability which is why a majority of prisons in the United States offer their inmates educational programs.50 The issue of inmates lacking education was also explored in the last season of Orange Is the New Black when the new Warden Tamika Ward introduced “the GED and motivational courses for the inmates.”51 Her original aim for the programs was that the “Residents who participate in these programs will be eligible for special privileges, like extra yard time. But we hope the real incentive will be the opportunity for personal growth.”52 Programs were led by volunteers which meant that PolyCon did not have to spend any money and
47 Wendy Sawyer, and Peter Wagner, “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020,” Prison Policy, March 24, 2020, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html. 48 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 153. 49 Aleks Kajstura, “Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019,” Prison Policy, October 29, 2019, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019women.html. 50 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 154. 51 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 6, “Trapped in an Elevator,” directed by Nick Sandow, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 52 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 4, “How to Do Life,” directed by Andrew McCarthy, aired July 26, 2019 on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 26
therefore allowed the programs to happen. These programs allowed inmates an opportunity to be able to spend their time in prison wisely and get an education that they were not able to get outside. According to a study from 2005 women are more likely to be charged with a drug- related offense rather than a violent one. In recent years police officers figured out that women are not the principal factors in drug dealing and that they usually know who is in charge of the illegal operations, but they are not revealing that information to the police. Therefore, police were forced to charge these women with “conspiracy as part of a drug case” or as another way they force these women to become informants by “threatening to charge them or take away their children.” There are instances when women would rather go to prison and suffer the consequences than to become an informant, but there are also instances when they talk to the police just to save themselves and their kids.53 This was also portrayed in the series as most of the main characters committed drug-related crimes rather than violent ones.
4.2 Privatization of prisons In the past, prisons or jails were the responsibility of government, but even then, authorities were leasing out prisoners. For example, inmates were leased to a business owner Joel Scott who used them for labor such as “produce of chairs, shoes, wagon and rope.” This agreement was very advantageous for the business owner because of the prisoners he made a lot of money. In the 1900s people were protesting against this agreement as it violated the human rights of the prisoners which “helped to put private prisons and private prison labor largely out of commission.” But in the 1980s the private sector came back. 54 The first private facility that was opened during the mass incarceration era was an immigration detention center in Texas. The detention center was opened by the Corrections Corporation of America who won the contract to run the facility (CCA) in 1983. After that, they also operated the first private prison in Tennessee which was in 1984. Another company emerged during this period which at that time was called Wackenhut Corrections Corporation and now is known as The GEO Group. The number
53 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 155-156. 54 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 167. 27
of inmates in private prisons increased from the years 1990 to 2009 and the main state for expansion of private prisons was Texas.55 By the year 2014 private prisons were in at least 36 states of the United States. The expansion of private prisons can be attributed to the inability of federal and state systems to cope with the increase of their prison population. Private corrections firms swear that they function based on “the formation of partnerships with governments and other stakeholders.” Even though private prisons are successful in the United States, there is still more state prisons than private ones. Some states have no private prisons such as New York and Illinois. As of right now, two firms are dominating the market in the United States and that is The GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America.56 The privatization of prisons in the United States was also a big issue that the series portrayed. At the start of the series, the Litchfield Penitentiary was run by the Federal Department of Corrections, but that changed at the start of season three. Litchfield Penitentiary faced closure after the previous Assistant to Warden, Natalie Figueroa, embezzled money from the prison for her husband’s political career. Because of this, the new Assistant to the Warden, Joe Caputo, had to look into other options on how he can save the prison, but also its employees and inmates. Natalie Figueroa helped him by telling him that Management and Corrections (MCC) were planning to acquire Litchfield before, but that they did not meet their conditions. After higher-ups from MCC visits Litchfield, they agree to acquire it. Caputo explains MCC’s involvement in Litchfield as “Litchfield will remain federal property. MCC would manage it and retain any profits.”57 Once MCC is in charge things in Litchfield change because MCC only cares about their money and not about the inmates or its employees. When MCC starts managing Litchfield, they start with cutting COs working hours and they also do not provide them with health insurance. After that MCC starts hiring new guards that are not qualified to be working in women’s prisons. Even Caputo points out that “They need 40 hours of training. We need to be able to assess their physical efficiency, teach them how to convey an order.” Instead of proper training,
55 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 169. 56 Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration, 170. 57 Orange Is the New Black, season 3, episode 3, “Empathy Is a Boner Killer,” directed by Michael Trim, aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 28
MCC plans to have them work with the old guards so they could learn from them and not waste their money because they are not “paying these guys do PE.”58 Another example where it is made obvious that MCC cares more about their profits than their inmates is when Caputo wants to make some changes but is denied every single one of them. Caputo said to the director of human activities at Litchfield, Danny Pearson, that “All week you've been coming to me with cuts. You haven’t approved a single new line item for expenditures” which once again indicates that they want to save as much money as possible by cutting expenses even if it is at the expense of inmates. His first request was some new legal books for the library so inmates would be able to work on their cases, but was told by MCC that “it's just hard to justify the expenditure when we can get books as donations.”59 Depending on donations means that there is a slim chance that someone would donate legal books that inmates may need. He also wanted to create job-training programs that would “help the prisoners get jobs after they get out of prison” and his request once again declined because it would cost money that MCC is not willing to give. The CEO of MCC insinuated that the person who is responsible for allowing these expenses only cares about what he “can show his shareholders at the end of this quarter.”60 At the end of season three, the old COs stage a walkout because they do not want to work under these unfair conditions that MCC introduced. Almost all of the guards stay united and try to fight for their rights. It was made obvious that the COs thought that MCC would change their views on their employees when one of them said that “I'd say today of all days, the company still needs us pretty damn bad” because the day of the walkout, new inmates were brought to Litchfield. Unfortunately, the walkout was unsuccessful because MCC would rather hire new unexperienced COs than pay more money to the old COs who already knew the inmates. Instead of hiring the old guards back, MCC hires vets because “The government gives tax credits to companies that hire vets. You get more
58 Orange Is the New Black, season 3, episode 7, “Tongue-Tied,” directed by Julie Anne Robinson, aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 59 Orange Is the New Black, season 3, episode 8, “Fear, and Other Smells,” directed by Mark. A Burley, aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 60 Orange Is the New Black, “Fear, and Other Smells.” 29
money the longer the vet's been out of work.” MCC hired veterans because of its benefits and not because they were qualified or had any experiences with inmates.61 Under the supervision of the new captain CO Piscatella, the guards become abusive towards the inmates and do not treat them as human beings, but like animals. This can be proved by CO Piscatella’s speech where he said that “It seems that, somewhere along the way, everyone around here forgot the only thing that matters. You’re criminals, and you deserve nothing. And if I have to make an example out of each and every one of you to get this place back in order... well, that will be my pleasure.”62 At the end of season five, he also abducted and tortured inmates which was nothing new to him because when he worked in men’s high-security facility, he tortured an inmate to death. He was not punished for his death because it was covered up, but he was transferred to a female facility. In my opinion, someone with his past and temper should not be working in a prison and certainly not in a woman prison. Because of his treatment, the inmates stick together and organize a peaceful protest and the goal of the protest is the resignation of CO Piscatella. During this protest inmate, Poussey Washington is killed by a CO Bailey and the prison’s response to her death inspires a prison riot. During the riot, inmates meet with Natalie Figueroa who represents the governor and who is there to negotiate the inmates’ demands. Right from the start of negotiations, Figueroa tells Tasha Jefferson that “The BOP’s private prison budget is restrictive and far too complex for me to explain to you here, but trust me, it definitively prohibits us from meeting all of these demands.” To which Tasha follows with “a simple rebalancing of MCC's... complex budget would be enough to finance all of our demands.” Tasha’s good math skills help her in this situation as she can remind Figueroa about the fact that “MCC's been spending 20% less per inmate than the federal government did. We also know that MCC's CEO been making bank off our backs. Like, $3.4 million-in-bonuses bank. And that's only talking last year.” Her knowledge about the prison’s financial situation was her advantage and something that Natalie did not
61 Orange Is the New Black, season 4, episode 2, “Power Suit,” directed by Constantine Makris, aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 62 Orange Is the New Black, season 4, episode 12, “The Animals,” directed by Matthew Weiner, aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 30
expect. The document that Tasha Jefferson used in negotiation with Natalie proved that MCC makes a lot of money but are not willing to spend it on the inmates.63 Tasha’s demands included new guards because she wanted to make sure that they would be nothing like the guards that they have now. About this demand, she said that “The new guards need to be like the ones we used to have. I mean trained. And human.”64 Another demand was to create a better educational program than the one that already exists because “The point is our education program ain’t never been no education program, even before it was put on hold for some alleged murder. Manual labor without instruction ain’t an education, and it damn sure ain’t no life skills.” Warden Caputo also shares the same opinion about the program as Tasha and says that “the program is slave labor, plain and simple.”65 During the negotiations, Warden Caputo is on the side of the inmates and says to Figueroa that it is his “priority to make sure we do right by these women” which means that he takes responsibility for failing them in the first place. It is also nice to see that someone in his position sees that the system that is now in Litchfield does not work. He also asked an important question which was “Is the goal to rehabilitate these women, or line the pockets of MCC's shareholders?”66 This question can be applied to private prisons in general and not just the one in the series. But from the way MCC was portrayed on the show, we can assume that the goal of MCC is to make as much money as possible because they did not make any changes that would benefit the inmates or the older employees. However, they made a lot of changes that benefited the shareholders. It was also interesting to see the former Warden Figueroa and the current Warden Caputo talk about the prison system and actually admit that it is broken and that neither he nor she can fix it. Another demand that is very important for Tasha is proper healthcare for inmates. She describes to Figueroa what happens when an inmate is sick which is that the COs decide if it is serious or not. She said that “A man who don’t know or care nothin’ about
63 Orange Is the New Black, season 5, episode 8, “Tied to the Tracks,” directed by Michael Trim, aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 64 Orange Is the New Black, “Tied to the Tracks.” 65 Orange Is the New Black, season 5, episode 9, “The Tightening,” directed by Erin Feeley, aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix, accessed March, 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 66 Orange Is the New Black, season 5, episode 10, “The Reverse Midas Touch,” directed by Laura Prepon, aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 31
us tells us if we sick enough to go to the doctor. And if it ain’t essential, you gotta lie in your bunk, hoping that your fever don’t get too high, or you gotta find a friend who can afford Tylenol from commissary.” In the end, she ends her argument by saying that “So you tell me that an emergency trip to the ER ain’t more expensive than getting us decent care in the first place.” This leads to Figueroa admitting her defeat and promising that she will make the healthcare better for the inmates.67 Tasha’s negotiation with Figueroa is not successful because she could not promise Tasha that CO Bailey would be brought to justice for accidentally killing Poussey Washington. Therefore, after the riot inmates are sent to a maximum-security prison and they do not get any benefits that were discussed during the negotiation. In my opinion, it would be interesting to see how the story would turn out if Tasha had accepted the deal with Figueroa and what would it mean for MCC. And how the prison would change if Figueroa would be able to keep her promises and got the inmates better healthcare, GED programs and trained correctional officers. On the other hand, I also understand that not accepting the deal was more realistic and just proved Tasha’s Jefferson character. Because all she really cared about was the justice for her friend Poussey Washington. After the riot the MCC rebrands itself and now has a new name, PolyCon Corrections. The rebranding was mainly because of the bad PR from the riot and the death of an inmate under their care. In season seven, PolyCon opens a new immigration facility to expand and to dominate a new market. They expanded to immigration facilities because of the money they get for a detainee per day.
67 Orange Is the New Black, season 5, episode 11, “Breaking the Fiberboard Ceiling,” directed by Wendey Stanzler, aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix, accessed March 15, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 32
5 Immigration in the USA The United States has a diverse nation that is formed by its people being bound together through “allegiances to a constitution, outlining the framework for the making of law and governance, and a loosely defined, ever contested creed.” This makes the US different because for example European countries were formed through a genealogy. 68 Since the founding of the United States, the country has experienced a continuous wave of immigration. The wave of immigration can be divided into three main waves that helped increase the country’s population. The first wave was in the 1840s and 1850s during which the American-Mexican war happened, and the United States gained a new state, Texas. During this time the Potato Famine happened in Ireland which led to them fleeing to the United States. The second wave was from the 1890s to World War I. During this period another war broke out. It was the American-Spanish war and because of this, the United States gained control over Puerto Rico and Guam which lead to an increase in the country’s population. The last wave is considered that happened in recent decades.69 The last wave was affected by the changes in the immigration laws that took place in 1965. These changes opened the United States on an “equal and regulated basis” to the non-European countries which meant that the third wave of international migration for the first time in American history came from outside of Europe. Thanks to these changes, immigrants from “Asia, Latin America and other developing countries” were able to migrate to the United States for the first time.70 During the period of the two waves of immigration the United States went through a transition in which it went from “a rural, agrarian society to an urban, industrial one”. It was immigrants with their cheap labor that helped this transition to happen.71 Throughout history, immigrants were always seen as an asset to the country’s economy. Back in the day, immigrant farmers were not only a cheap workforce, but they also helped with increasing the country’s population. Employing immigrants has certain advantages for their employers that include filling the need for specialized workers, not having to pay for their training and education and employers do not have any social welfare obligations to immigrants like for example compensation for injury. As another
68 David A. Gerber, American immigration: a very short introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 1. 69 Gerber, American immigration, 2. 70 Gerber, American immigration, 3. 71 Gerber, American immigration, 2. 33
advantage could be seen that hiring low-wage immigrants as opposed to expensive formal workers helps employers to have a cheap workforce.72 Todays’ immigrants have a lot of common with the past ones as both of them are looking for security and opportunity. Even though both groups have the same goals, the “trajectories of their histories may be different.” The first difference is that a lot of today’s immigrants came to the country illegally which can get them deported if they are ever found out. The second difference is that a large part of today’s immigrants are non-white. As the race has formed “a principal line of fragmentation within American society” and therefore plays an important part throughout immigration. In the past immigrants such as “Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese” had a completely different experience in comparison to Caucasian immigrants because they were perceived as inferior and at some point, had to go through discrimination. The third option is that the opportunities in the United States changed in recent decades which can make it harder for immigrants to find a good job that also pays well. In the past immigrants could count on secure factory jobs in mass- production industries that made it possible for immigrants to move up into the middle class. This option is no longer possible as the United States is increasingly de- industrialized. 73 Even the United States went through some changes throughout the history of immigration. For example, in the earlier centuries, the United States was a rising economic giant as opposed to now they are being challenged by European Union, but also emerging industrial giants such as Brazil, India, and China. American workers and businesses are in constant competition. American workers are competing with lower- wage workers, meanwhile, American businesses and industries are competing with lower- cost operations abroad. So logically the representation of today’s immigrants reflects these changes. Even though they reflect these changes, so today’s immigrants fit and are more a part of American society than these past immigrants.74 In the last decade, one of the reasons why the country’s population grew was thanks to immigration, whether legal or illegal. The Department of Homeland Security creates every year a Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, which is a summary of tables that provides data about people who were granted to enter the country legally. According
72 Gerber, American immigration, 2. 73 Gerber, American immigration, 3. 74 Gerber, American immigration, 4. 34
to the 2018 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, the United States admitted a total of 1 096 611 immigrants. From that number 567 884 were people who just adjusted their status and 528 727 new arrivals.75 The United States is not only welcoming immigrants, but they are also deporting those who entered the country illegally. In the fiscal year 2018, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed 256 085 immigrants who were in the country illegally. According to the report created by ICE, the number of deported immigrants is at the highest level since the fiscal year 2014.76 The numbers provided by ICE prove that during the presidency of Donald Trump, the number of deported immigrants has increased significantly. The increase in deported immigrants may have been caused by policies that were put into effect since January 2017 by the administration of Donald Trump.
5.1 Trump Policies Ever since Donald Trump has announced his candidacy in the presidential election 2016, his campaign was described as offensive, racist, and xenophobic because of the rhetoric he used against African-Americans, Jews and immigrants. During his campaign trail he made promises that were seen as an attack on the Latino community. His promises to his voters included “increasing the border security, banning Muslim immigrants, deporting eleven million undocumented people living in the United States, and building a wall along the country’s southern border.”77 Donald Trump has made his views and opinions about immigration issues very obvious by the rhetoric he used not only during his campaign trail in 2016, but also before he announced his candidacy. He was also very vocal about his opinions about immigration during his campaign trail when he was speaking before his supporters. During one of those speeches, he blamed immigrants for “taking away jobs from
75 “Table 7. Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Type and Detailed Class of Admission: Fiscal Year 2018,” Department of Homeland Security, October 2019, accessed March 18, 2020, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration- statistics/yearbook/2018/yearbook_immigration_statistics_2018.pdf. 76 “Fiscal Year 2018 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accessed March 18, 2020, https://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offices/ero/pdf/eroFY2018Report.pdf. 77 Erika Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States (New York: Basic Books, 2019), 10-11. 35
Americans.” During another speech, he described immigration as “one of the biggest threats to the United States” which is why he promised his voters that he would restore “immigration security” by building the already mentioned wall.78 During his presidency President Trump did not change his stance on immigration or immigrants which can be easily seen from the policies that he along with his administration put into place. The first executive order that Donald Trump signed when he first came into office in January 2017 is titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” This executive order puts limits on people that want to enter the United States without valid travel documents or visas and are from countries such as “Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen.” This order is also widely known as the Muslim ban.79 In 2017 the administration of President Trump announced that they will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). In his statement, President Trump explained the reasoning why he is ending DACA by saying that “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”80 DACA was first established in 2012 by President Barack Obama as a way to protect people who were brought into the United States as children illegally. The program protected them from being deported but it also was not a way to gain American citizenship. This program is helping almost 800 000 people who are mostly around the age of 25 years old and are mostly students.81 President Trump shared on his Twitter that “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very tough,
78 Lee, America for Americans, 11. 79 Donald J. Trump, “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States,” March 6, 2017, White House, accessed March 18, 2020, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-protecting-nation-foreign- terrorist-entry-united-states-2/. 80 Vanessa Romo, Martina Stewart, and Brian Naylor, “Trump Ends DACA, Calls On Congress To Act,” NPR, September 5, 2017, accessed March 18, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2017/09/05/546423550/trump-signals-end-to-daca-calls-on-congress-to- act. 81 Caitlin Dickerson, “What Is DACA? And How Did It End Up in the Supreme Court?,” New York Times, November 12, 2019, accessed March 18, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/daca-supreme-court.html?auth=login- email&login=email. 36
hardened criminals.”82 His statement was proved wrong as one of the conditions for being granted the DACA relief is “to have not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor, or more than three misdemeanors of any kind” and another condition is to “not pose a threat to national security or public safety.”83 Since the end of DACA was announced, no new applicants have been accepted to the program, but the people who already are in the program can renew their status.84 The last policy that affected immigration in the United States is the “Zero- Tolerance policy” that was introduced by Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. This policy was introduced to try and reduce illegal immigration along the Southwest Border. During a press conference General Jeff Session talked about the policy and warned people who still wanted to try and cross the border by saying that:
If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It is that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you do not like that, then don't smuggle children over our border.85
Because of this policy, parents who decided to enter the country illegally got separated from their children. Even though Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said that the children “will be well cared for as we deal with their parents” it is far from the truth.86 According to a Democratic lawmaker who visited facilities where these children are kept and spoke to detainees, parents do not receive diapers for their children. Children
82 Donald J. Trump, “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very tough, hardened criminals,” Twitter, November 12, 2019 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1194219655717642240. 83 “Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA),” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, September 5, 2017, accessed March 18, 2020, https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca. 84 Dickerson, “What Is DACA.” 85 Richard Gonzales, “Sessions Says ‘Zero Tolerance’ For Illegal Border Crossers, Vows To Divide Families,” NPR, May 7, 2018, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/07/609225537/sessions-says-zero-tolerance- for-illegal-border-crossers-vows-to-divide-families. 86 Mahita Gajanan, “Homeland Security Chief Says He's Considering Separating Immigrant Children From Parents,” TIME, March 6, 2017, accessed March 20, 2020, https://time.com/4692899/homeland-security-john-kelly-separate-children-parents- immigration/. 37
sleep on cold floors, without proper meals and proper medical care. Most of these places are also overcrowded. 87 Some of these claims made by Democratic lawmaker were proven right when pictures and videos were posted online in which it can be easily seen that these children are not kept in human conditions. After a lot of criticism, President Trump signed an executive order to end the family separation. During the signing, he stated that the United States will “have strong — very strong borders, but we’re going to keep the families together. I didn’t like the sight, or the feeling of families being separated.”88 Since this executive order was signed, there are still no signs of the Trump administration trying to reunite the children that are kept in detention centers in the United States with their families.
5.2 Immigration Detention centers At the end of season six of Orange Is the New Black, there two instances of a slight foreshadowing that the series would be focusing on the immigration situation in the United States. The first scene was when the Vice President of PolyCon, Linda Ferguson gave a speech front of a crowd where she said that PolyCon “would like to announce our first step into new market brimming with untapped potential. Immigration detention centers.”89 And the second scene is when newly released inmates including Blanca Flores are led straight to ICE officers who are waiting for them outside of prison to take them straight into a detention center. Immigration is a huge problem in the United States today that affects people daily. However, the series focused more on the issue of immigration in the final season which is season seven. Before writing season seven, several writers alongside producers of the show have visited immigration detention centers as a research. They wanted to be able to tell real stories and also to build detention center that would be as realistic as possible. Carolina Paiz, one of the writers and executive producers of the show said that “We hoped our
87 Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Poor Conditions Persist for Migrant Children Detained at the Border, Democrats Say,” New York Times, August 29, 2019, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/us/politics/homeland-security-migrant-children.html. 88 Michael D. Shear, Abby Goodnough and Maggie Haberman, “Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart,” New York Times, June 20, 2018, accessed March 20, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children- executive-order.html. 89 Orange Is the New Black, season 6, episode 13, “Be Free,” directed by Nick Sandow, aired July 27, 2018, on Netflix, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 38
immigration storylines this season would play a similar role in humanizing the immigrant experience to those who see us as subhuman.” This storyline was also important to her as she herself is the only one from her family who has American citizenship because she was born in Miami, but the rest of her family still lives in Guatemala.90 When they were touring the detention facility in Adelanto, they saw the conditions in which they keep people in and also how unfairly they treat them. They were also able to compare areas where they keep men and areas where they keep women. The areas in which they keep men are “large, bulletproof fish tanks. Inside, tables and benches are bolted to the floor, some with checkerboard tops but no pieces to play with. Individual cells line the walls. Inside, detainees in prison scrubs lay on metal bunks”, meanwhile the area in which they keep women “smells like old soup” and “unlike the men’s side, there are no cells, just rows of bunks filling a common area, with no personal space, no items decorating their beds.”91 What they saw in the detention center and what they heard from people that are being held there, they implemented to storylines in the last season of the show. And as Carolina Paiz herself said “What we saw there that day inspired an important part of our final season”, but it was not the only thing that their visit influenced. She also admitted that this visit has “changed” them. Most of them do not share the same opinions about immigration and still when they were leaving, they felt “stunned by what they’d witnessed” and agreed that “it did not stand for our American values.”92 In Orange Is the New Black, the detention center where they hold all the detainees is called “The PolyCon ICE Detention Center” and is next to the maximum-security prison. At the end of season six, it is implied that the detention center will be made from the Litchfield minimum security prison which was also known as the Camp. In season seven the audience can see how they built the detention center from a minimum-security prison. The detention center has one main area with triple bunk beds so they could house as many detainees as possible. Detainees are also allowed to use computers that are in the main area but only for legal advice. Not many detainees use them though as the legal
90 Carolina Paiz, “Opinion: We Put ICE Detention Centers Into ‘Orange Is The New Black.’ Now I'm Heading Back To One,” Buzzfeed, July, 29, 2019 accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinapaiz/ice-detention-centers-orange-is-the-new- black. 91 Paiz, “We Put ICE Detention Centers Into "Orange Is The New Black.” 92 Paiz, “We Put ICE Detention Centers Into "Orange Is The New Black.” 39
software is very advanced and hard to navigate through. Detainees also worked in the kitchen until “some do-gooder lawyer-advocate types told the detainees who were working in the kitchen that they don't get paid and it doesn't help their case, so they quit.” Because of this, the Vice President of PolyCon, Linda Ferguson suggested that the new warden, Natalie Figueroa should employ inmates from the max-security prison since “America's cheapest labor force is just down the hill.”93 When detainees come to the detention center for the first time, they are divided into two groups. The first group is “Level Two” which are detainees “with felony convictions” and who wear “red uniforms”. The second group is “Level Ones” which are detainees that have no criminal history and they wear “orange uniforms.” Some can say that the colour they chose for the second group is kind of ironic since they are not really criminals. But one of point view was explained by one of the ICE officers who said that “Well, they are criminals. They’re here, right? They came to our country illegally.” 94 Another point of view that also shares Karla Córdova is that they are not criminals because all they want is to live in the United States and give their children a better life. The courtroom is also part of the detention center that was built there so the detention center, mainly PolyCon “don’t have to keep busing detainees across the state every time they have a court appearance.”95 This shows that owners of the detention centers do not really care about human beings, but that they care more about the money they can make from each detainee. And also, how can they minimize the cost of each detainee. One of the most heartbreaking moments from the courtroom that was shown in the series is when they show the audience that these hearing are attended by not only adults but also small children. Producers decided to show that children are really attending those hearings and they did it to “show the ridiculousness and heartbreak of this.”96 In my opinion the writers did a good job in showing how ridiculous the situation is when the
93 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 2, “Just Desserts,” directed by Andrew McCarthy, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 94 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 3, “And Brown Is the New Orange,” directed by Constantine Makris, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 95 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 7, “Me as Well,” directed by Ludovic Littee, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 96 Maria Elena Fernandez, “Why Orange Is the New Black Brought the Immigration Crisis to Litchfield,” Vulture, July 29, 2019, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/orange-is-the-new-black-immigration-storyline-bts.html. 40
judge asked two siblings if they understand “that we are here to determine whether or not you two can remain in the United States?” and the only answer is “Can I use the bathroom?”97 The issue of immigration in the series Orange Is the New Black is told primarily through four different characters which gives the series an opportunity to show the audience four different sides of immigration. It also shows how the immigration system can affect people and its families. It also tries to show why people come to the United States and how hard it is for them to be able to enter the country legally or get a green card. Through the first character, Maritza Ramos, the show tells the story of coming to the country as a small child and having no idea that you are undocumented. Through the second character which is Blanca Flores, it tells the story of an invalid green card along with the American dream not being what it seems like on TV. Through the third character, Karla Córdova it is able to tell the story of family separation and what is a determined mother willing to do to be reunited with her children. And through the last character, Shani Abboud, it tells the story of running from a country where you are faced with discrimination and a possible death to a country that you view as safety.
5.1 Maritza Ramos Maritza Ramos is a Colombian woman who grew up in New York. She also has a young daughter called Juliana Fernanda Ramos who lives with her relatives. Maritza used her beauty to scam and manipulate men until she was caught. She was sentenced for a grand theft auto when she stole a vehicle from a car dealership. At the start of season seven, the audience learns that Maritza was released from prison and has to follow certain rules so she would not violate her parole conditions. When one time she is out in a bar, she is surprised by an ICE raid. Because she cannot provide a valid ID, she gets detained. Even though Maritza tells and begs the ICE officer that “I'm an American. I'm a US citizen.” and that “this is mistake”, she is taken to the PolyCon ICE Detention Center.98 In the detention center, she is reunited with Blanca Flores with who she was in Litchfield. In the detention center, Maritza is confronted by another detainee Karla Córdova who says to her that its “people like you that are the reason this is so hard for the rest of
97 Orange Is the New Black, “Me as Well.” 98 Orange Is the New Black, “Just Desserts.” 41
us.”99 By this sentence we can assume that Karla holds a grudge against not only Maritza but also against everyone who came to the United States and has committed crimes. In her eyes, there are already enough people who believe in the stereotypes that immigrants are mainly criminals and bad people. I also believe that she thinks that if there were not people like for example Maritza who have committed crimes then the process of legal immigration would not be as hard as it is now. Because then there would be no proof that there are criminals even among immigrants. Even though, in my opinion, it would not help as these people would just find another reason why they do not want any immigrants in their country. But with this, it is also important to mention what Karla says to Maritza which is that “I’m not a criminal” which alludes to the fact that she does not think of herself as a criminal and that entering country illegally is not a crime. Maritza also experiences how different the situation in prison and a detention center is. For example, if you want to make a phone call in a detention center you cannot expect it to be free because “you gotta pay to set up an account, and you gotta pay per minute.” Before you are even able to make the phone call, “you need to buy a phone card from the machine. With money” which means that those detainees that do not have any money are not able to contact their families or friends and tell them what happened to them or where they are. The same thing is with letters as you need to buy a stamp from a kiosk.100 Another difference that shocks Maritza is that detainees do not get an assigned lawyer as she was used to from prison. Blanca is the one who has to let her know, that she will not get a lawyer. When Maritza says to her that she has to get one as “this is America”, Blanca explains to her that “not in here.” When describing the detention center, Blanca says that “It looks like a prison, it smells like a prison, but it’s not a prison. It’s worse.” and she also says that “nothing in here is free.” 101 When Maritza is reunited with her friend Flaca from prison, she asks her to contact her mother to see if she would be able to provide her birth certificate. When Flaca finally finds her mother, she found out that Maritza was not born in the United States as she thinks she was, but that she was born in Colombia. When Maritza founds out that she was not born in the United States, she ends up confused as she has “never lived anywhere
99 Orange Is the New Black, “And Brown Is the New Orange.” 100 Orange Is the New Black, “And Brown Is the New Orange.” 101 Orange Is the New Black, “And Brown Is the New Orange.” 42
else” which is a case for a lot of illegal immigrants who came to the country as kids. After she found out the truth about her life, Maritza got angry with her mother for lying to her but gets reassured by her friend Gloria Mendoza who says to her that her mother “was running from a terrible situation to give you a better life. Whatever mistakes she made, I'm sure she was doing her best.” 102 What Gloria said to Maritza can be applied to a lot of immigrants that entered the United States illegally as a lot of them just want better life. Knowing that Maritza is in the country illegally, they have to choose a different approach in helping her try to get out of the detention center. That is why her friend Gloria went online and looked for lawyers and she found them. She told Maritza that she has “found this group online. It's called Freedom for Immigrants, and they wanna help people in here.” She tells her that all she needs to do is “hit pound and put these four numbers in, and that's it, it connects. Just like a hotline.” But Gloria also tells her to “be careful. Apparently, if they figure out that you're using the hotline, Big Brother shuts it down.”103 Freedom for Immigrants is actually a nonprofit organization that is really trying to help immigrants in detention centers and give them legal advices. After the episode of Orange Is the New Black where the hotline is mentioned was released, ICE shut down the hotline just like Gloria has predicted in the show. The only difference is that they shut it down in real life and not in a Netflix series. The episode was released along with the whole season on 26th July and the hotline was shut down on 7th August. The good news is that Freedom for Immigration is suing the Department of Homeland Security for “violation of free speech.” In February a judge ordered ICE to “temporarily restore a national toll-free hotline for detained immigrants” that was shut down just because it was mentioned in the episode of Orange Is the New Black.104 Sadly, the line does not help even in the Netflix series as Maritza does not listen and gives the phone number to other detainees. Her giving the number to other detainees really shown how selfless she really is. But in the end, its Maritza who pays the price as ICE officers become suspicious of her and take her in the middle of the night to be
102 Orange Is the New Black, “How to Do Life,” 103 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 5, “Minority Deport,” directed by Laura Prepon, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 104 Andrea Castillo, “Judge restores immigrant-detention hotline featured in ‘Orange Is the New Black,’” Los Angeles Times, February 12, 2020, accessed March 21, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-12/judge-restores-immigrant-detention- hotline-that-was-featured-in-oitnb. 43
deported back to Colombia. Even though she does not know anyone there or does not remember ever being there. The last scene where the audience sees Maritza is on the plane where she is with other detainees who are also being deported. The scene is very powerful as one detainee is disappearing after another until the plane is empty. The scene can symbolize how once they leave the United States, they really become forgotten because no one knows what happens to them or how will they survive in a country that most of the time they do not even remember and do not know anyone there. On the deportation of Maritza, one of the producers said that they “wanted it to feel like a member of your family was gone” and that they “wanted viewers to feel the shock of that, for the abruptness to be jarring.”105 Maritza’s storyline was inspired by two different experiences that the writers of the Netflix series went through. The first part of her story which is that Maritza came to the United States as a baby and had no idea that she was undocumented was inspired by an activist called Phal Sok, who told his story to the writers when they met him. Phal Sok was born in Cambodia and came to the United States when he was three months old. As a teenager, he “was charged with armed robbery” and after doing his time, he was detained by ICE and put into a detention center. Phal Sok is one of the lucky ones because he was pardoned. Another part of Maritza’s story that comes from real experience is her giving out the phone number to the hotline. When the series writer visited the detention center, they were giving out a phone number to “cards with a free legal hotline run by Freedom For Immigrants”, but were also warned that if any ICE officers saw them that they would “shut down the hotline” which they did. Since then Freedom For Immigrants “started up another hotline, but it is far more costly now without the 4-digit extension.”106 This storyline is also really close to heart for the actress that plays Maritza, Diane Guerrero, because when she was 14 years old her parents were taken away by ICE officers. In her memoir In the Country We Love: My Family Divided she states how hard her parents tried to become legal citizens of the United States, but they were not able to do so. She also recalls how she “simply fell through the bureaucratic cracks” because after her parents were detained by ICE, “no government official checked up on me. No one
105 Fernandez, “Why Orange Is the New Black Brought the Immigration Crisis to Litchfield.” 106 Karen Fratti, “How The ‘OITNB’ Season 7 Writers Kept The Immigration Plotlines "Depressingly Real",” Bustle, July 29, 2019, accessed March 21, 2020, https://www.bustle.com/p/how-the-oitnb-season-7-writers-kept-the-immigration-plotlines- depressingly-real-18360949. 44
seemed to care or even notice that I was on my own.”107 Because of this experience, Diane became very vocal about issues that immigrants in the United States have to go through, but she is also a huge advocate for immigration reform. She also uses her platform to talk about how family separation affects relationships in the family.
5.2 Blanca Flores Blanca Flores is a Dominican woman who emigrated to the United States from Santo Domingo. She just like almost every immigrant wanted something more than the Dominican Republic could offer her. Before she was detained in the detention center, she was sentenced for accessory to manslaughter. She was sentenced because she helped her wealthy, elderly employer Millie cover the fact that she hit a mailman. Blanca’s immigration story differs from everyone else as she was among the lucky ones who were able to get a green card. Blanca talks about how hard it was to get the green card and how much time it took to get one. She said that “All I had to do was change a bunch of adult diapers...fill out all the paperwork, wait 12 years, and then...Welcome to America!”108 From Blanca’s speech we can deduce that even though some immigrants want to go the legal way, it is still a long process. And during the process of getting a green card, you can be deported at any moment. After serving her time for accessory to manslaughter, Blanca gets an early release. But what she does not know is that instead of going home with her boyfriend, she is arrested by ICE officers and taken to a detention center. In the detention center, she is reunited with her former inmate, Maritza Ramos. When her boyfriend Diablo visits her in the detention center, he tells her that her “green card’s been invalidated because she has committed a deportable offense.” At first, Blanca does not know what offense she has committed, but he quickly reminds her by saying that “it was because you pled guilty to being an organizer in the riot.” Blanca then remembers that she did not get any extra time for that riot and figures out that it must have been because she would be detained by ICE upon her release. During her visit with her boyfriend, Diablo is confronted by an ICE officer because his green card is no longer valid. He gets asked to provide any other valid documentation that would prove that he is
107 Diane Guerrero, and Michelle Burford, In the Country We Love: My Family Divided (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2016), 9. 108 Orange Is the New Black, “And Brown Is the New Orange.” 45
a legal immigrant, but because he is still waiting for his new green card, he gets detained and send into a detention center.109 During her hearing, Blanca copies another detainee Karla Córdova who has a hearing before her. Because of what she heard in the previous case, she says to the judge that “I would like to reset my case, too, until I find a lawyer. It is my right, Your Honor.” The judge becomes suspicious that she only asked for it because the previous detainee did the same thing, but Blanca denies the allegations and says that “she wanted to say it first” and that “she will not say anything until she has a lawyer.” In the end, the judge grants Blanca her wish and says “Since you seem determined to waste the court's time, I will set the matter over to a later date, give you an opportunity to find a lawyer. Make sure you are prepared next time.” Throughout this experience, Blanca learned that “even though they don’t give you a lawyer, you have the right to ask for more time till you find one yourself.”110 After that Blanca and Karla become friends and Karla helps Blanca with her case because before she was detained, she worked in a law office. For their last hearing, Karla and Blanca had a strategy that they wanted to use, but at the last minute, they have to change it. Karla tells Blanca that she needs to change her strategy because the judge “won’t dismiss her case.” Karla tells Blanca that she needs to tell the judge that “tell her you want a stay of removal to fight your original conviction in criminal court. It'll buy you some time.” Blanca sees this as her only chance and listens to Karla. By doing so, she ends up not only standing up for herself and her rights as a human being but also defending herself by saying to the judge that she:
was advised to plead guilty to helping organize a riot in exchange for no additional time. My attorney never informed me that my immigration status would be affected or my green card revoked. This amounts to ineffective assistance of counsel. Had I been informed of the consequences, I would've assumed my risk and fought my case in court. I'm asking for the opportunity to do so now.111
After her powerful speech, the judge grants the time to “reopen her criminal case.” Because of this given time, she will be able to fight for her stay in the United States. 112
109 Orange Is the New Black, “How to Do Life.” 110 Orange Is the New Black, “Minority Deport.” 111 Orange Is the New Black, “Me as Well.” 112 Orange Is the New Black, “Me as Well.” 46
Blanca thanks to the help of her friends and Freedom for Immigrants can leave the detention center. She is able to do so because the Freedom for Immigrants “bailed her out” so she could fight her criminal case. Blanca wins her criminal case and is a “free woman with a green card.”113 What was interesting about her immigration story is the fact that she came to the United States to pursue the American dream like a lot of other immigrants do, but when her boyfriend got deported back to Honduras, she followed him. Even though she became an American citizen again, she still left the country because of something that was more important to her than any American dream could ever be.
5.3 Karla Córdova Karla Córdova is a Salvadoran widow who has two American children. Her children have been placed in foster care because she is detained. Before she was detained, she worked in a law office. Her knowledge of the law really helped her in the detention center and also other detainees like for example Blanca Flores. At first, Karla is standoffish and kind of rude to Maritza Flores and to those who are in red colour because she blames them for helping to portray the stereotype that immigrants are criminals and overall bad people. She also unknowingly helps Blanca when they are at their first hearing with a judge because Karla asks for time to find a lawyer and Blanca ends up copying her thus securing that she would not be deported immediately as she probably would be if she did not copy Karla. By spending more time together in the detention center, they become friends and together they have a strategy on how to pursue the judge to let them stay in the United States. During her second hearing, Karla tries to plead her case by applying for “relief under the Convention Against Torture Act.” She presents evidence that tries to support her claim that if she was ever to return to El Salvador, she would be tortured. Her evidence is a newspaper article about gang violence and how they killed boys who did not want to join them. She expresses to the court that she cannot take her boys “to a country where their choices are kill or be killed.” By admitting to the court that her boys would not be safe in El Salvador, she unintentionally helps the counterparty. The judge also tells her that “If anyone’s made that case, it’s you. Unfortunately, what you’ve failed to do is make
113 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 13, “Here's Where We Get Off,” directed by Mark A. Burley, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 21, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 47
a case for yourself.” By focusing on her boys and in how much danger they will be if they were to return to El Salvador, she forgot about defending herself. Her decision led to the judge denying her case and her being deported back to El Salvador. When they go back to the detention center, she gets the opportunity to use an illegal phone to call her two sons and say goodbye to them.114 Even though Karla was deported she was still not giving up hope, because she wanted to be reunited with her boys again. The audience sees Karla for the last time when she is hiking with a group of people who want to cross the border back to the United States. Along the way, Karla falls and hurts her leg so for a while the leader of the group (coyote) carries her. After seeing that him carrying her is slowing down the group, he ends up leaving her in a desert in a shade with a bottle of water and a promise that he will come back for her. In the show, there is no specific ending for Karla, and it is on the audience to interpret how it will end for her. But there are some indications into what could have happened to her in the desert. It is very possible that she has died in the desert as she had no food, only a bottle of water and could not stand on her foot which means that she had no way to go somewhere where she could be sheltered from the burning sun or wild animals. A lot of people try to come to the United States the same way as Karla tried to do which is by paying a coyote a large amount of money. This way of coming to the United States is one of the most dangerous ways according to the United States Border Patrol as 300 people have died while trying to cross the border. 115 According to a researcher on immigration, Francisco Simon, the cost that people have to pay to smugglers has increased during the Trump presidency. He said that “the price has increased incredibly for those who go alone or who try to cross the desert and has gone down for unaccompanied children and parents with children.” But every smuggler has different prices, but the price for a single person is around 10 400$ and around 5 000$ for a parent with a child. The interesting part was that smugglers see themselves and their “jobs” as a
114 Orange Is the New Black, “Me as Well.” 115 “Southwest Border Deaths By Fiscal Year,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Accessed March 21, 2020, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020- Jan/U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Fiscal%20Year%20Southwest%20Border%20Sector%20De aths%20%28FY%201998%20-%20FY%202019%29_0.pdf. 48
help to their communities. One of the smugglers has said that “People want to leave, and we help them. And I happen to make money in the process.”116
5.4 Shani Abboud Another new character that the audience was introduced to in season seven is Shani Abboud. Shani is seen for the first time in a detention center where she meets and befriends other detainees. She emigrated to the United States from Egypt because she feared for her life and safety. Shani emigrated from Egypt after she was confronted by her parents when they found out from her cousin that she kissed a girl in a hotel bar. After that, they also went through her social media and saw pictures with the same girl. Her father said to her that “You know that I could never hurt you. But I can’t say the same for the rest of the family.” When she asked him if he would kill her, his response was that “You tarnished your family’s name and our reputation.”117 Judging by her parent’s reactions she had to leave Egypt because she knew that if she stayed, she would either be assaulted or killed by her other family members. In the detention center, Shani works in the kitchen and ends up befriending other detainees such as Karla and Blanca. Even though Shani tries to delay her deportation, she is not successful and runs out of her hearings. She says that “Air ICE is giving me a free flight to my f *cking funeral” which seems to allude to the fact that she knows what faith awaits her when she lands in Egypt.118 Shani’s deportation story could have a different ending if detainees got assigned lawyers because her return to Egypt means danger to her life from her own family. She probably could have used the same strategy that Karla Córdova tried to use but was not successful as her life was not in danger. Shani could have applied for the relief under the Convention Against Torture Act and probably be successful as her life was in danger upon returning to her country.
116 Sarah Kinosian, “The booming business for smuggling people to the US: 'Everyone wins',” The Guardian, April 8, 2019, accessed March 21, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/08/the-booming-business-for-smuggling- people-to-the-us-everyone-wins. 117 Orange Is the New Black, “Me as Well.” 118 Orange Is the New Black, “Me as Well.” 49
In my opinion, the series did a great job of trying to show the audience the struggles that immigrants face in the United States because the immigration issue is still so prevalent in the United States today. The series was able to do so through several storylines of different characters with different endings. It was also able to show a variety of reasons why a lot of people decide to risk their lives and come to the United States. It also shown that all the people that come to the United States share the same hunger for better opportunities and also for a better life.
50
6 The treatment of LGBTQ inmates Jails and prisons can be really “traumatizing and dangerous” places for people that are part of the LGBTQ community. These people are also most likely to end up in prisons or jails where they are most likely to experience “humiliation, physical and sexual abuse” from fellow inmates and also prison officers. During their stay in prison or jail, most of the LGBTQ people experience being “placed in solitary confinement” for no valid reasons or “just because of who they are.” There are not enough statistics about how many LGBTQ people are currently in the US prisons or jails, but the most affected groups in the prison system are transgender people and the LGBTQ youth.119 These experiences and issues that LGBTQ people face in prison were also portrayed throughout the seven seasons of Orange Is the New Black. From the first season of the series, the audience is introduced to two characters that are obviously homophobic and transphobic. The first one is a CO Sam Healy and the second one is an inmate Tiffany Doggett. The CO Healy reveals his homophobic views when he warns Piper Chapman to “stay away” from lesbians when she first comes into the prison.120 He also seems relieved when she tells him that she is engaged to a man. Another example is when Piper is being stalked by another inmate (Suzanne Warren) and tries to get Piper to bunk with her to which CO Healy replies with “lesbian request denied.” What is even more alarming is his description of the inmate Warren and what he would do with inmates like her which he said that “She’s what we call a "stud," which is very confusing for a nice girl like you, because, let’s be honest, she looks like a man. If it were up to me, I’d take all the butch ones and I’d put them in a "little boy’s wing," and I’d separate them from the general community.”121 In my opinion, I do not think that people with those kinds of views should be able to work in prisons or jails or anywhere where they can make a decision for people that identify themselves as queer. Another instance where the audience can see just how homophobic and biased CO Healy was to certain inmates is when he sends Piper Chapman to SHU for “violating her
119 Jody Marksamer, and Harper Jean Tobin, “Standing With LGBT Prisoners: An Advocate’s Guide to Ending Abuse and Combating Imprisonment,” Transequality, accessed March 27, 2020, https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/JailPrisons_Resource_FINAL.pdf. 120 Orange Is the New Black, “I wasn’t ready.” 121 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 3, “Lesbian Request Denied,” directed by Jodie Foster, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 51
fellow inmate.” Even though all she did was dance with another inmate, but to CO Healy it “looked like attempted rape.” What was interesting about this confrontation was that when Piper expressed to CO Healy that he “can’t do that”, CO Mendez actually agreed with her because he realized that she did nothing wrong. When CO Healy goes to visit Piper in the SHU, he indicates that she was sent there as a punishment because she “needed a little time-out to think about her behavior.” He also says that Piper is nothing like Alex Vause who is the inmate that Piper was dancing with and is also gay because “Alex Vause is sick” and in Healy’s eyes Piper is not.122 Thanks to flashbacks, the audience is able to see that his homophobic views stem from his father who told him at a young age that being gay was “a mental illness.”123 Even though he was obviously influenced by his father’s opinions and views, it does not excuse him or his actions that he did in his job. And since he works as a counselor, he should be able to suppress his views and treat everybody equally no matter what their sexual orientation or race is. Tiffany Doggett is an inmate who is a Catholic and who follows God’s words. During the first season, she tries to pursue other inmates to follow the Bible too. Her views and opinions are heavily influenced by her religious beliefs which result in her telling Alex Vause who is gay that “You know, you’re going to hell! And you’re gonna burn there for the entire eternity!”124 In this instance it is obvious that Tiffany does not support gay people because it is against her religion. She is also transphobic towards Sophia Burset and calls her slurs such as “lady man” and “it.” When the ceiling of a chapel collapses, Tiffany blames it on Sophia and says that is “why this whole thing happened. God’s angry that there’s an abomination in the church, and if we don’t get rid of "it," it’s just gonna keep on happening.”125 This once again confirms that Tiffany’s ignorance stems from her religious beliefs. Even though Tiffany remains ignorant and close-minded throughout the first two seasons, she changes her beliefs and becomes more
122 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 9, “Fucksgiving,” directed by Michael Trim, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 123 Orange Is the New Black, season 4, episode 4, “Doctor Psycho,” directed by Erin Feeley, aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz- en/title/70242311. 124 Orange Is the New Black, “Fucksgiving.” 125 Orange Is the New Black, season 1, episode 5, “The Chickening,” directed by Andrew McCarthy, aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 52
aware of how ignorant she used to be. This change can be due to her stay in a psych ward but also by befriending a fellow inmate Carrie Black who is a proud lesbian. What was interesting about these two characters was that the show explored two different ways of how people can be ignorant and uneducated. With CO Healy the show explored how much influence parents have on their children’s beliefs and views and how that can influence them in the future. And with Tiffany Doggett, the show explored how religious beliefs can cloud people’s judgement. It also explored that even those people can change their views and opinions if they really want to and people have the patience with them and are prepared that they will not change immediately.
6.1 Mistreatment of transgender inmates When it comes to the experience of transgender people with the prison system, 16% of all transgender people have been in prison which includes “more than 20% of trans women and almost all black trans people.” There is one important factor that is contributing to “the high rate of trans incarceration” and that is the “criminalization of sex work.” Many transgender people are unemployed and therefore the sex work is essential for their survival. There is also another factor why there are so many transgender people in prisons and jails and the reason is that many police officers have prejudices and assume that when transgender people are out in public that they are “likely to be engaging in prostitution” which leads to their arrest.126 Most US prisons and jails house their transgender prisoners according to a general policy which is based on their “genital characteristics or the gender they were thought to be at birth.” This policy puts transgender inmates at “a higher risk of violence and abuse.” The Prison Rape Elimination Act regulates these practices and is not allowing US prisons and jails to house transgender inmates “based on their anatomy without consideration of other factors.” There can be cases in which automatically housing the transgender inmates “based on their anatomy may violate the Eight Amendment of the Constitution.”127 The former president of the United States, Barack Obama, has tried to introduce policies that would secure protection for the transgender inmates in prison and jails, but
126 Susan Stryker, Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution (New York: Seal Press, 2017), 180. 127 “LGBTQ People Behind Bars,” Transequality, accessed March 27, 2020, https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/TransgenderPeopleBehindBars.pdf. 53
in 2018 the Trump administration decided to roll back on those protections. The initial decision on where an inmate will be housed is still based on the biological sex instead of the sex that inmates identify themselves with. Prison authorities need to consider the safety and health of the transgender inmates, but they also need to take into consideration “whether placement would threaten the management and security of the institution and/or pose a risk to other inmates in the institution.”128 During their incarceration, transgender people are subjected to numerous forms of discrimination including the denial of their medical care, harassment by fellow inmates and also prison officers, physical and sexual assaults and extended stays in solitary confinement. 129 The prolonged use of solitary confinement can very damaging and traumatizing experience for inmates and their physical and mental health. Experts such as “the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture found that in many cases it amounts to torture.”130 In the series, the confinement solitary is primarily referred to as the SHU. When inmates are kept in SHU, they only get out a few times a week for a shower and they get their food through a slot in the door. The lights in the SHU are constantly kept on which makes it harder for the inmates to keep track on what day it is and how many days they spend in the SHU. Inmates that are held in the SHU also do not have enough human contact unless they know the person that is being held next to them in their cell. In season seven, warden Tamika Ward closes the SHU and as a reason for closing it down, she states that “We will no longer be using solitary confinement as a means of discipline. Listen. Over and over, studies conclude that it's cruel and ineffective, and it results in memory loss, suicidal tendencies...” She did not want to use the SHU as a punishment but understood that the inmates need “the threat of a means of discipline.” But she wanted to focus more on the rehabilitation of the inmates and wanted “incentive programs motivate good behavior far more than fear of punishment.”131
128 Maria Caspani, “Trump Administration Rolls Back Protections For Transgender Prison Inmates,” HuffPost, December 5, 2018, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-administration-rolls-back-protections-for-transgender- prison-inmates_n_5af72b7be4b032b10bfb3358. 129 LGBTQ People Behind Bars, 6. 130 LGBTQ People Behind Bars, 14. 131 Orange Is the New Black, season 7, episode 3, “And Brown Is the New Orange,” directed by Constantine Makris, aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 54
The only character on Orange Is the New Black that is transgender is Sophia Burset who is played by Laverne Cox who is transgender. Sophia Burset spends six months in solitary confinement and to prepare for that, the actress Laverne said that she did a lot of research and learned that “people who are in solitary become delusional. You start having visions of things that aren’t there; you’re paranoid. You lose all sense of time, and you also lose the sense to want to live." She also agrees with activists when they say that solitary confinement is “cruel and unusual punishment.”132
6.2 Sophia Burset Sophia Burset is an African-American transgender woman who worked as a firefighter and before her transition was called Marcus. She is married to Crystal and has a son, Michael. In order to be able to afford gender reassignment surgeries, she committed credit card fraud that she is later on sentenced for. It was actually her son who told the police what Sophia was doing because he could not accept that Sophia is transgender. Sophia as the only transgender inmate in Litchfield faces a lot of struggles during her incarceration, such as transphobic and ignorant comments, denial of her hormone medication and in later seasons even a physical attack. In season one Sophia deals with one of the problems that awaits her in the prison system as a transgender inmate. The first struggle is the denial of her hormone medication. At first, Natalie Figueroa who is the Executive Assistant to Warden of the prison changes her dose of hormones. She defends her decision by stating that the prison is only “required to give her enough to maintain. It is a federal system.” Then she follows the statement by saying a transphobic comment in which she misgenders Sophia “If he wanted to keep his girlish figure, he should’ve stayed out of jail.” By this comment, she proved that she cares more about the money that she will save by reducing the medication than about the people inside the prison. Another transphobic comment was made by the CO Healy who is also Sophia’s counselor when he called her “a tranny.” 133 Sophia was trying to make CO Healy understand why medication is important for her by saying that “If I don’t get my medication, I’m going through withdrawal. Hot
132 Kate Aurthur, “Laverne Cox Reveals Everything You Need To Know About Sophia In Season 4 Of “Orange Is The New Black”,” Buzzfeed, June 24, 2016, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/laverne-cox-season-4-orange-is-the-new-black. 133 Orange Is the New Black, “Lesbian Request Denied.” 55
flashes, night sweats. My face will sag, my body hair will start to grow back.” After explaining this to CO Healy, she asks to see a doctor which he denies and because she really needs her medication, she swallows the head of a plastic toy that Healy has on his desk. She is taken to the doctor and tells her that she needs her medication and explains to her that she’s given “five years, $80 000 and my freedom for this. I’m finally who I’m supposed to be. Do you understand? I can’t go back.” Even this does not work as the doctor says to her that “We’re gonna take you off your hormones entirely until we can schedule an ultrasound” because she is afraid that the medication is damaging her liver. Sophia does not believe the doctor and sees it more like discrimination than her being concerned about her health. Throughout the season, Sophia tries to get her medication through her wife Crystal and also other inmates but is not successful. By the end of season one, Sophia has her old dosage of hormones back because the prison has a new doctor.134 In season three, Sophia befriends another inmate, Gloria Mendoza because they both share the pain of being mothers in prison. Gloria asks Sophia if when Sophia’s wife along with her son comes to visit her in prison, if her son Benny could join them. Sophia agrees and not long after that her son Michael starts acting differently and starts swearing to which she starts blaming Gloria’s son, Benny. Later on, it is revealed that Michael’s behaviour had nothing to do with Benny. Gloria and Sophia end up fighting which results in Gloria having a black eye after Sophia shoves Gloria into a wall. After this fight Gloria’s friends start spreading transphobic rumors about Sophia, even though Gloria did not want them to do that. These rumors lead to Sophia being harassed and attacked in her salon by a group of inmates. During the fight Sophia was called different transphobic slurs like for example “tranny” or “she-male.” The fight was witnessed by one of the guards who did not try to stop the fight because she was not properly trained and because of that, she did not know what to do. When Sophia saw her and asked for her help, all she said was “I’ll get Caputo.”135 When Sophia is talking to the warden (Joe Caputo), it seems like he understands what Sophia is going through and blames the attack on a “herd mentality” because of the fact that “people don’t like what they can’t understand.” Caputo’s solution to the attack is to “have the guards keep a closer eye” on her so they would be ready “if anything starts
134 Orange Is the New Black, “Lesbian Request Denied.” 135 Orange Is the New Black, season 3, episode 12, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There,” directed by Uta Briesewitz, aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 56
up.” Sophia does not want this because it seems like she would be the one who would be punished, even though she did nothing wrong. To which Caputo responds that “Well, there’s not much else I can do.” Sophia’s response is a list of demands which one of them is “crisis and sensitivity training for all the guards” to which Caputo responds that Sophia should be “realistic” because something like this is not possible. Sophia as a last resort threatens Caputo with a lawsuit and says that she is willing to go public with her story. She already has a headline in mind “She-Male Jail Fail. Balls to the Wall in Tranny Prison Brawl.” and is sure that everyone would talk about her story.136 She knows that the prison will not want such a negative press this story would bring them. After her talk with Joe Caputo, Sophia talks to her old friend and another inmate, Sister Jane Ingalls, about how everyone comes to her when it is convenient for them or when they need something from her. Sophia expressed how “everybody acts cool most of the time” and how she feels accepted among them when they ask her “Oh, Sophia, hit me with the gossip." or "What do you think about bangs, Sophia?" But then she continues by saying that “You start to feel like one of the girls. But then something turns... and you realize...you’re still a freak and you’ll never be one of them.” This conversation brings up feelings that people from the transgender community can feel isolated and not really accepted even if they are confident in their own skin. Because as it was the case for Sophia, all it takes is a rumor and people will be transphobic and turn against you. 137 Later on, in the episode there is an interesting conversation between two higher- ups from the MCC because they heard about Sophia wanting to go public with her story. What was interesting in that conversation was that they admitted their negligence by saying that “she’s accusing us of skimping on training for the new guards, which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly untrue.” They proved that Sophia was right when she was talking to the warden about how the guards are not trained well and are not prepared for such unexpected situations such as Sophia’s attack. Their solution to Sophia’s complains is to put her in solitary confinement where she would be alone and could “clear her head.” What was interesting to see is that one of the higher-ups took Sophia’s side and said that “she hasn’t done anything wrong” to which the other higher-up told him that “of course not, but we can’t weed out all the bullies” and that it would be “for her own protection.” Later in the conversation, it is insinuated that they do not care about the inmates and their
136 Orange Is the New Black, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There.” 137 Orange Is the New Black, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There.” 57
well-being, but that they care more about good PR and their money. They try to defend their choices by saying that “We do what we do or someone else does. It’s not personal” which is unfair as it is not personal to them, but it is for the inmates.138 At the end of the episode, Sophia is taken to the solitary confinement “for her own protection” and is told by one of the COs that she “must have pissed off a pretty big dog.”139 By the reactions of the COs and the way they were talking to Sophia, it is obvious that they do not want to take her there and they do not agree with the decision. It is also unfair that Sophia is the one being punished even though she did nothing wrong and that the people who attacked her went unpunished. It also shows how badly the people from the transgender community are being treated in the prison system and the prison system fails them because they are not able to protect them unless they put them in solitary confinement. In season four, Sophia is still being held in solitary confinement, even though she does not deserve to be there. When her wife, Crystal, finds out where Sophia is being held, she tries to get her out of there by confronting the Warden of the prison. She tries to ask him nicely and when it does not work, she says to him that “Well, I’m here to give you a chance to fix this before I call Lambda and the ACLU.” By saying that she implies that she will speak about the treatment of Sophia in the prison to the public. Crystal also tries to humanize Sophia’s and other inmates’ actions in prison by saying that “You think you understand what goes through her head in a place like this? Everybody in there is doing things they don’t wanna do, every single day, things they’re not proud of. Whatever it takes to keep your head above water.” Crystal’s words are useless because they do not convince Joe Caputo, but that does not mean that Crystal will stop fighting for her wife.140 Meanwhile, Sophia’s mental health in solitary confinement is deteriorating to the point that she would do anything for a chance to talk to Warden Caputo so he would let her out. She tries flooding her cell and when the Warden comes, she tells him that she feels like she was “thrown in a dungeon, forgotten about” because she has no contact with her family or any other inmates. Caputo also seems like he wants to help her but cannot because the instruction to put Sophia into SHU came from higher-ups and not from him. When Caputo does not help her get out of SHU, she starts a fire in her cell and also cuts
138 Orange Is the New Black, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There.” 139 Orange Is the New Black, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There.” 140 Orange Is the New Black, “Power Suit.” 58
herself with a magazine. Judging by her actions, we can assume that being in solitary confinement really influenced her behaviour.141 Her wife Crystal is still trying to get her wife out of the SHU by visiting the Warden Caputo at his house. Caputo is dating a woman called Linda Ferguson who works for MCC and when she asks him who Crystal is, he tells her that “She’s married to Sophia Burset, the inmate you guys made me put in a four-by-four box. The human being you won’t allow me to release from inhumane captivity.” When Caputo opens to the door, Crystal tells him that “MCC is hiding behind its private corporate status and not complying with federal laws. Our lawsuit just goes on and on and she’s lost in there!” to which he responds that Sophia is “alive and well” and tells her to call him the next day. From this conversation, we can assume that Caputo really does not agree with the treatment of Sophia Burset and wants to do something to help her get out of SHU.142 Another inmate, sister Jane Ingalls, tries to help Sophia by assaulting another inmate so she would end up in the SHU and could look for Sophia there. She also smuggled a phone so she could take a photo of Sophia and post it online. When she is caught, she speaks to Caputo about how “Sophia is falling apart down here. At least I didn’t stand by idly” which implies that is exactly what Caputo is doing. Because of this remark, Caputo takes the picture of Sophia and gives the phone with the picture on it to Danny Pearson who has a blog about the corruption and unfair treatment of inmates in Litchfield. Danny Pearson prints the photo and together with Sophia’s wife, they go to MCC. Because of this tactic, Sophia is let out of the SHU and can go back to the general prison population.143 In season six, Sophia is approached by Joe Caputo who is trying to see if she would like to help Tasha Jefferson by joining their lawsuit against MCC. He tells her that “I have met with nearly a dozen other inmates like yourself... who suffered terrible injustices at the hands of MCC, and we’re going public with a series of lawsuits. Your horrific story of mistreatment can tip the scales.” What he fails to realize is that Sophia feels used and hurt because he only wants to hear her story in order to get back at MCC
141 Orange Is the New Black, “Doctor Psycho.” 142 Orange Is the New Black, season 4, episode 8, “Friends in Low Places,” directed by Phil Abraham, aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 143 Orange Is the New Black, season 4, episode 10, “Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull,” directed by Phil Abraham, aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 59
and hurt their public image and Sophia voices her feelings by saying that “You wanna use my story to help her. Where was this help when I was askin’ for it?” She also feels like he did not care about her or her situation because she can see that he really wants to help Tasha Jefferson but did not do the same thing for her. Caputo explains his feelings about it by saying that “I know I screwed up when it came to you. I made mistakes. And that’s a big part of why I’m doing this. I want to stop MCC from treating people the way they treated you...” Judging by this speech it seems like Caputo realized that when he was a Warden, he made a lot of mistakes and is trying to make up for it.144 Sophia does not end up helping Caputo and Tasha Jefferson in their lawsuit against MCC because she meets with Linda Ferguson who is the senior vice president and takes her offer. Linda says to Sophia that “I know you suffered greatly under the previous administration at MCC. But part of my mission as the new senior vice president is to correct the mistakes of my predecessors.” To which Sophia replies with her experiences from the SHU by saying that “How do you intend to correct the six months I spent in isolation without decent food or sunlight, or ever laying my eyes on another human being except for those giant walking potatoes you call guards?” Linda Ferguson assures Sophia that “under my leadership, such inhumane torture will never take place at Litchfield again” and offers her a deal that Sophia cannot miss. The deal includes an early release from prison and also “a settlement of $300,000.” The only requirement is that Sophia cannot “speak, sue or testify” against MCC. Sophia decided to take Linda’s deal and gets to leave the prison at the end of season six. 145 Linda Ferguson was smart when she offered Sophia the money because she knew she would need them and therefore would take her deal. It also once again proved that she as the senior vice president cares more about the public image of MCC rather than inmates and the trauma that they had to endure under their care.
144 Orange Is the New Black, “Well This Took A Dark Turn.” 145 Orange Is the New Black, “Well This Took A Dark Turn.” 60
Conclusion The aim of this thesis was to present the chosen social issues that are still prevalent in the United States and to examine how these issues were portrayed throughout the seven seasons of Orange Is the New Black and through certain characters. These issues include white privilege, mass incarceration in the United States, immigration in the United States and the treatment of LGBTQ inmates in the prison system. The first chapter was mainly focused on the author of the memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in Women’s Prison, Piper Kerman, and her life. It explained that the author ended up in prison because she carried a suitcase full of laundered money across the border for her then-lover who worked for an international drug cartel. Her then-lover also named her in order to reduce her prison sentence. She got released after serving 13 months in federal prison. Her prison experience made her realize how privilege she actually is and made her want to fight for those who are not. Her memoir describes her experience in the prison system, but it is also very critical about the prison system and prison guards. After getting out of prison, she started fighting for better conditions in prisons and also fighting for a Prison reform. Furthermore, the chapter focused on the Netflix adaptation that was created by Jenji Kohan and premiered on Netflix in 2013. Piper Kerman was really involved in the making of the adaptation and gave notes on what could happen in a prison and whatnot. The adaptation is the most similar to the memoir with its first season where the main character, Piper Chapman was also sentenced for carrying a suitcase full of money for her lover who worked for an international drug cartel. But as was stated by the creator of the show, the memoir did not have enough drama and that is why the series became its own thing. Later seasons focused more on social issues such as racial discrimination, Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ rights, mental health, overcrowding in prisons, privatization of prisons and immigration. The main differences between the memoir and the adaptations are that the series focuses on more characters than just Piper, name changes of some characters, her former girlfriend is more present in the series than she was in the book and her relationship with Larry and her parents is completely different than it is described in the book. Another interesting thing that the series does is the use of flashbacks in order to show the past of certain characters and what did they do to end up in prison or what led them to do what they did. 61
The second chapter explored the issue of white privilege and how certain people are discriminated in the prison system just because of their race and their background. For this purpose, I have chosen six characters from the series that I thought were the best examples where the audience could clearly see how privileged and discriminated certain characters were. By analyzing six different characters I was able to determine that because of their race and background both Piper Chapman and Judy King had certain advantages that characters such as Poussey Washington, Janae Watson and Tasha Jefferson did not have. Judy’s King celebrity status also helped her get more special treatment in prison than just her race could. The other four characters have faced discrimination by COs, abuse by COs, wrongful conviction and homelessness because of their race. The third chapter explained what racial identity is and its’ different stages. It also focused on how someone’s identity can change once they are in a group. The racial groups were explained in the series from the first season when inmates arrived in prison. Once they arrived, they were automatically made aware to which racial group they belong to. These groups were based on their race. The relationships within racial groups and relationships with other racial groups are explained in the episode called WAC Pack. The fourth chapter focused on the current issue of the United States which is mass incarceration. It explained how policies by former presidents of the United States such as Reagan and Clinton have helped to increase mass incarceration. Another topic of the chapter were women’s prisons in which was explained that women are usually sentenced for drug-related crimes than for violent ones. It also discussed how inmates have lower education which is why in the series the prison stars educational programs. The last focus was on the privatization of prisons in the United States and how they do not treat the inmates as human beings. It was also proven that private prisons care more about their profits than they care about rehabilitation of inmates. The fifth chapter discussed the issue of immigration that the United States faces today. The first part of the chapter was focused on the history of immigration which was then followed by policies issued by the Trump administration. It explained how these policies that were issued by the Trump administration have impacted the immigration and made the lives of immigrants living in the United States difficult. The second part of the chapter was focused on the detention center depicted in the season seven of the series and how the issue of immigration was portrayed through 62
characters such as Maritza Ramos, Blanca Flores, Karla Córdova and Shani Abboud. Through these characters, the series was able to tell the story of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as babies, family separation at the border, invalid green card and the false premise of American dream and running away from a country where we fear for our life. The last chapter of this thesis focused on the issue of treatment of LGBTQ inmates in prisons. At first the chapter focused on the discrimination that characters such as Piper Chapman had to face because of their sexual orientation. It also described two homophobic characters which one was a CO Healy and the other was an inmate Doggett and how their actions influenced the lives of other inmates. Furthermore, the chapter focused on the mistreatment of transgender inmates that was told through the storyline of Sophia Burset. Throughout her stay in prison, she experienced discrimination that a lot of transgender inmates deal with such as denial of hormone medication, transphobic slurs, and prolonged stay in solitary confinement. In conclusion it is important to note that Orange Is the New Black was able to capture a worldwide audience since the first season premiered on Netflix. And because of that popularity, it was able to showcase that series with the focus on marginalized communities can have a broad appeal among viewers from all around the world. It is also important to note that the leading characters of the series are primarily women and also women of color which is something that is still not that common in TV series today. The series was an opportunity to tell stories from women’s prison to an audience with the potential of informing them about what is actually happening in today’s women’s prisons in the United States. It is also worth mentioning that the producer of the series, Jenji Kohan, was able to incorporate multiple social issues into the prison environment. In my thesis, I only focused on four of these issues but other important issues that were portrayed throughout the series and are worth mentioning are mental illnesses among inmates, Me Too movement, addiction, and sexual harassment. In my opinion, Orange Is the New Black was able to give voices to people and communities that would have been ignored or silenced otherwise. Also, worth mentioning is that thanks to its diverse cast, the series was able to show what a real representation should look like and can look like. I hope that TV executives will see that people wants to see more diverse casts as it is long overdue. Orange Is the New Black proved that representation matters and that it can attract worldwide audience since more people can 63
relate to these characters and their stories. It also proved how important it is to give people of color a chance to tell their stories and how it is much more authentic coming from them than trying to make these roles for Caucasian people.
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Chan, Melissa. “Officer in Eric Garner Death Fired After NYPD Investigation. Here's What to Know About the Case.” TIME, August 19, 2019. Accessed August 26, 2019. https://time.com/5642648/eric-garner-death-daniel-pantaleo-suspended/. Collis, Clark. “‘Orange is the New Black’: Jenji Kohan talks new Netflix show.” Entertainment Weekly, July 12, 2013. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://ew.com/article/2013/07/12/orange-is-the-new-black-jenji-kohan-talks/. Dickerson, Caitlin. “What Is DACA? And How Did It End Up in the Supreme Court.” New York Times, November 12, 2019. Accessed March 18, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/daca-supreme-court.html?auth=login- email&login=email. Fernandez, Maria Elena. “How Orange Is the New Black Said Goodbye to the Litchfield Inmates.” Vulture, July 30, 2019. Accessed February 12, 2020. https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/orange-is-the-new-black-character- endings.html. Fernandez, Maria Elena. “Why Orange Is the New Black Brought the Immigration Crisis to Litchfield.” Vulture, July 29, 2019. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/orange-is-the-new-black-immigration- storyline-bts.html. Franchini, Rachel. “An Interview with Piper Kerman.” The Dickinsonian, September 27, 2018. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://thedickinsonian.com/news/2018/09/27/an-interview-with-piper-kerman/. Fratti, Karen. “How The 'OITNB' Season 7 Writers Kept The Immigration Plotlines ‘Depressingly Real.’” Bustle, July 29, 2019. Accessed March 21, 2020. https://www.bustle.com/p/how-the-oitnb-season-7-writers-kept-the-immigration- plotlines-depressingly-real-18360949. Gajanan, Mahita. “Homeland Security Chief Says He's Considering Separating Immigrant Children From Parents.” TIME, March 6, 2017. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://time.com/4692899/homeland-security-john-kelly-separate-children- parents-immigration/. Gonzales, Richard. “Sessions Says ‘Zero Tolerance’ For Illegal Border Crossers, Vows To Divide Families.” NPR, May 7, 2018. Accessed March 20, 2020. 67
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/07/609225537/sessions-says- zero-tolerance-for-illegal-border-crossers-vows-to-divide-families. Gross, Terry. “Behind ‘The New Black’: The Real Piper's Prison Story.” NPR, August 12, 2013. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2013/08/12/211339427/behind-the-new-black-the-real- pipers- prison-story?t=1566550937427. Gross, Terry. “‘Orange’ Creator Jenji Kohan: ‘Piper Was My Trojan Horse.’” NPR, August 13, 2013. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2013/08/13/211639989/orange-creator-jenji-kohan-piper- was-my-trojan-horse. Joiner, Whitney. “Interview: Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year Inside a Women’s Prison.” Smith Magazine, April 6, 2010. Accessed August 20, 2019. http://www.smithmag.net/memoirville/2010/04/06/interview-piper-kerman- author-of-orange-is-the-new-black-my-year-inside-a-womens-prison/. Kajstura, Aleks. “Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019.” Prison Policy, October 29, 2019. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019women.html. Kanno-Youngs, Zolan. “Poor Conditions Persist for Migrant Children Detained at the Border, Democrats Say.” New York Times, August 29, 2019. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/us/politics/homeland-security-migrant- children.html. Kinosian, Sarah “The booming business for smuggling people to the US: ‘Everyone wins’.” The Guardian, April 8, 2019. Accessed March 21, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/08/the-booming-business-for- smuggling-people-to-the-us-everyone-wins. Marksamer, Jody, and Harper Jean Tobin. “Standing With LGBT Prisoners: An Advocate’s Guide to Ending Abuse and Combating Imprisonment.” Transequality. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/JailPrisons_Resource_ FINAL.pdf. 68
Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 1, “I wasn’t ready.” Directed by Michael Trim. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed February 13, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 3, “Lesbian Request Denied.” Directed by Jodie Foster. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 4, “Imaginary Enemies.” Directed by Michael Trim. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed February 11, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 5, “The Chickening.” Directed by Andrew McCarthy. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 6, “WAC Pack.” Directed by Michael Trim. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed August 23, 2019. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 9, “Fucksgiving.” Directed by Michael Trim. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 1, episode 12, “Fool Me Once.” Directed by Andrew McCarthy. Aired July 11, 2013, on Netflix. Accessed February 11, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 2, episode 8, “Appropriately Sized Pots.“ Directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer. Aired June 6, 2014, on Netflix. Accessed August 23, 2019. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 3, episode 3, “Empathy Is a Boner Killer.” Directed by Michael Trim. Aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 3, episode 7, “Tongue-Tied.” Directed by Julie Anne Robinson. Aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 3, episode 8, “Fear, and Other Smells.” Directed by Mark A. Burley. Aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 69
Orange Is the New Black. Season 3, episode 12, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There.” Directed by Uta Briesewitz. Aired June 11, 2015, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 4, episode 2, “Power Suit.” Directed by Constantine Makris. Aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 4, episode 4, “Doctor Psycho.” Directed by Erin Feeley. Aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 4, episode 8, “Friends in Low Places.” Directed by Phil Abraham. Aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 4, episode 10, “Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull.” Directed by Phil Abraham. Aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 4, episode 12, “The Animals.” Directed by Matthew Weiner. Aired June 17, 2016, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 5, episode 5, “Sing it, White Effie.” Directed by Phil Abraham. Aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix. Accessed August 25, 2019. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 5, episode 8, “Tied to the Tracks.” Directed by Michael Trim. Aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 5, episode 9, “The Tightening.” Directed by Erin Feeley. Aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 5, episode 10, “The Reverse Midas Touch.” Directed by Laura Prepon. Aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 70
Orange Is the New Black. Season 5, episode 11, “Breaking the Fiberboard Ceiling.” Directed by Wendey Stanzler. Aired June 9, 2017, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 6, episode 11, “Well This Took A Dark Turn.” Directed by Laura Prepon. Aired July 27, 2018, on Netflix. Accessed August 23, 2019. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 6, episode 13, “Be Free.” Directed by Nick Sandow. Aired July 27, 2018, on Netflix. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 2, “Just Desserts.” Directed by Andrew McCarthy. Aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 3, “And Brown Is the New Orange.” Directed by Constantine Makris. Aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 4, “How to Do Life.” Directed by Andrew McCarthy. Aired July 26, 2019 on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 5, “Minority Deport.” Directed by Laura Prepon, Aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 6, “Trapped in an Elevator.” Directed by Nick Sandow. Aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 7, “Me as Well.” Directed by Ludovic Littee. Aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. Orange Is the New Black. Season 7, episode 13, “Here's Where We Get Off.” Directed by Mark A. Burley. Aired July 26, 2019, on Netflix. Accessed March 21, 2020. https://www.netflix.com/cz-en/title/70242311. 71
Paiz, Carolina. “Opinion: We Put ICE Detention Centers Into “Orange Is The New Black.” Now I'm Heading Back To One.” Buzzfeed, July 29, 2019. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinapaiz/ice-detention-centers- orange-is-the-new-black. Radish, Christina. “Creator Jenji Kohan Talks ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, Her Research Into Prison Life, and Graphic Sex Scenes.” Collider, July 7, 2013. Accessed August 20, 2019. http://collider.com/jenji-kohan-orange-is-the-new-black-interview/. Romo, Vanessa, Martina Stewart, and Brian Naylor. “Trump Ends DACA, Calls On Congress To Act.” NPR, September 5, 2017. Accessed March 18, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2017/09/05/546423550/trump-signals-end-to-daca-calls-on- congress-to-act. Sawyer, Wendy, and Peter Wagner. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020.” Prison Policy, March 24, 2020. Accessed March 15, 2020. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html. Shear, Michael D., Abby Goodnough, and Maggie Haberman. “Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart.” New York Times, June 20, 2018. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children- executive-order.html. Southall, Ashley. “Daniel Pantaleo, Officer Who Held Eric Garner in Chokehold, Is Fired.” New York Times, August 19, 2019. Accessed August 26, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/nyregion/daniel-pantaleo-fired.html. Stern, Marlow. “Samira Wiley on Poussey’s Powerful—and Controversial—OITNB Death and Living Out Loud.” Daily Beast, April 13, 2017. Accessed August 26, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/samira-wiley-on-pousseys-powerfuland- controversialoitnb-death-and-living-out-loud. Strause, Jackie. “‘Orange Is the New Black's’ Newest Inmate Tackles Martha Stewart, Paula Deen Comparisons.” The Hollywood Reporter, June 16, 2016. Accessed August 23, 2019. 72
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/orange-is-new-black-star-judy- king-comparisons-martha-stewart-paula-deen-903457. Trump, Donald J. “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.” March 6, 2017, White House. Accessed March 18, 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-protecting- nation- foreign-terrorist-entry-united-states-2/. Trump, Donald J. “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very tough, hardened criminals.” Twitter, November 12, 2019. Accessed March 18, 2020. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1194219655717642240.