Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
 | |
| Author | Piper Kerman |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published | 2010 |
| Publisher | Spiegel & Grau |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 327 |
| ISBN | 978-0-812-98618-1 |
Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (titled Orange Is the New Black: My Time in a Women's Prison in some editions) is a 2010 memoir by Piper Kerman, which tells the story of her money laundering and drug trafficking conviction and subsequent year spent in a women's prison.[1]
Sasha Abramsky of the Columbia Journalism Review stated that the book "documents the author’s attempts to preserve her individuality in the face of a gray, impersonal bureaucracy—one based around prisoner counts, strip searches, rules governing the minutiae of life, and continual reminders that prisoners, by definition, have no power, no real autonomy."[2]
The book became the basis of the Netflix TV series Orange Is the New Black.[3] The series as of June 6, 2014 has two seasons, with a third picked up for renewal.
Background
Early Involvement
The memoir details the events which occur as a result of Piper Kerman's involvement with Nora Jansen, a former friend and drug smuggler. In 1993, shortly after her graduation from Smith College, Kerman agreed to accompany Jansen on several trips to Asia and Europe, going as far as carrying a suitcase of laundered money across the Atlantic Ocean before returning to San Francisco to “piece her life back together”. In May of 1998, Kerman was visited by two Customs agents, and 6 years later was sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison. After serving time in three different facilities, Kerman was released in March 2005.
Buruji Kashamu
The government of the United States has sought the extradition of Buruji Kashamu, a Nigerian businessman and politician, alleging he led the drug ring Kerman was involved in, along with other drug trafficking charges. Kashamu is affiliated with the People's Democratic Party and lives close to Lagos. Kashamu has stated that he is innocent and that the drug ring was run by his now deceased brother. In 1998, Kashamu was arrested in England. Police there released Kashamu because they believed police in the United States had concealed information that strengthened Kashamu's case. Court records report that Kashamu was romantically involved with the sister of Cleary Wolters,[4] Kerman's girlfriend at the time.[5]
Analysis
Abramsky wrote that the book is mostly "a journey of self-discovery, describing how one can find one’s true strengths during moments of adversity" and that it "is more similar to South African anti-apartheid activist Albie Sachs's Jail Diary than it is to, say, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s denunciatory communiqués from Pennsylvania’s death row."[6]
Reception
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Abramsky recommended reading Orange Is the New Black and Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire at the same time because of the juxtaposition of the two different types of prison environments and prisoners described.[2] The book was selected by the UC Santa Barbara Library as its 2015 book for the university-wide reading program "UCSB Reads."[7]
References
- ^ Humphrey, Michael (March 25, 2010). "Ex-Convict Piper Kerman on Her Hot New Memoir, Orange Is the New Black". New York Magazine. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ^ a b Abramsky, Sasha. "American Justice." Columbia Journalism Review, May-June, 2010, Vol.49(1), p.55(3) [Peer Reviewed Journal]. Online: May 1, 2010. Online p. 3. (Archive). Retrieved on July 9, 2014. "The juxtaposition between Texas Tough and Orange Is the New Black is fascinating, and makes them well worth reading together."
- ^ Lee Ball, Aimee (August 2, 2013). "Prison Life, Real and Onscreen". The New York Times.
- ^ Driscoll, Molly (August 15, 2014). "Books Chapter & Verse: Cleary Wolters, the basis for an 'Orange Is the New Black' character, will write a memoir (The character of Alex Vause, portrayed by actress Laura Prepon on the show, is based on Wolters)". The Christian Science Monitor.
{{cite news}}: line feed character in|title=at position 23 (help) - ^ Heinzmann, David (July 6, 2014). "'Orange Is New Black' Drug Case Still Open in Chicago Federal Court". Chicago Tribune. p. N.p., 14.
- ^ Abramsky, Sasha. "American Justice." Columbia Journalism Review, May-June, 2010, Vol.49(1), p.55(3) [Peer Reviewed Journal]. Online: May 1, 2010. Online p. 2. (Archive). Retrieved on July 9, 2014.
- ^ Estrada, Andrea (November 24, 2014). "'UCSB Reads' Selects 'Orange Is the New Black' by Piper Kerman". The UC Santa Barbara Current. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
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