Orange Is The New Black

Orange Is The New Black

Adult nonfiction
No, I did not watch the tv show Piper Kerman's Orange Is The New
Black inspired. I feel sort of embarrassed that for months I looked
every week on the Orono Public Library computer to see if the book was
in. I wondered if there was something wrong with me for wanting to
read about a woman's experience in prison. Probably would have
mentioned it in Confession if I was Catholic. Anyway, when I finally
was able to start reading the guilt fell away. Not only is this book
fascinating in its own right, it's a strong indictment of the punitive
approach to justice the United States takes which has us locking up
more of our citizens than any other country.
Kerman graduated from college not really sure what she wanted to
do with her life. She made some poor choices and ended up in a
glamerous life style that included being on the periphery of drug
dealing. She broke away from her contacts when she almost became a
drug carrier.
When Kerman was living a respectable life style with a devoted
significant other she felt that she had put that part of her life
behind her. That is until two U.S. Customs officers arrived at her
New York apartment with indictments for money laundering and drug
trafficking. She wound up doing time in a federal correctional
facility.
Fortunately for us, Kerman is introspective and willing to share
her thought processes. Readers are allowed to see her evolve and grow
in an environment highly uncondusive to either process. Even more
fortunate for us, she gives us poignant glimpses of the lives of other
woman inmates who did not have the resources she does. Not
surprisingly a lot of them come from underprivileged segments of
society. "Most of the women in the Camp were poor, poorly educated,
and came from neighborhoods where the mainstream economy was barely
present and the narcotics trade provided the most opportunities for
employment. Their typical offenses were for things like low-level
dealing, allowing their apartments to be used for drug activity, and
passing messages, all for low wages. Small involvement in the drug
trade could land you in prison for many years, especially if you had a
lousy court-appointed lawyer..."
What should outrage us is that in the face of spending more than
it would take to send them to good old University of Maine,
pathetically little is done to prepare them for more productive lives
on reentry into society. You'd think $30,000 a year per inmate could
buy more than a poorly run GED program. No wonder the prison system
has a high recidivism rate.
Then there is the cost to the next generation--those youngsters
only getting to see mom on rare visitations. Ya gotta wonder what
this deprivation is doing to them.
If you believe, like I do, that a shift to a restorative justice
system would be good for America, I urge you to read Orange Is The New
Black. If you are fine with the status quo punitive justice system we
have going on I CHALLENGE you to read the book. It could be the basis
for really productive dialogue.
On a personal note, as I read the book I was also following a case in
Texas where a woman was arrested and charged with a felony for leaving
her two young children in her car when she went for a job interview.
She had nowhere else to leave them. Those self-righteously calling
for punishment to the fullest extent of the law (and sometimes beyond)
are the same folks who would have condemned her if she'd expected the
system to support her little family. Wouldn't those involved
including taxpayers have been better off if there had been a safe
place for her children to stay while she tried to find a way to
support them? Inquiring minds want to know.
A great big shout out goes out to all who work to change us over to a
more restorative system of justice.
Julia Emily Hathaway




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