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| Orange Is The New Black’s Real-Life Inspiration Is Fighting for Female Inmates on Capitol Hill |
| By ambrosiaforheads.com |
| Published: 08/05/2015 |
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Piper Kerman, a former inmate in the United States federal-prison system, published a book called Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison in 2010. Five years later and she is a pop-culture phenomenon and the inspiration behind Netflix’s most popular show to date. However, her story is not just fodder for entertainment and earlier this week, Kerman visited Congress to argue for more federal support for female inmates across the country. Her statements were part of a hearing called “Oversight of the Bureau of Prisons: First-Hand Accounts of Challenges Facing the Federal Prison System,” which took place on Capitol Hill yesterday (August 4). Kerman was one of five expert witnesses who made arguments for criminal-justice system reform and, as she stated in her testimony, “a significant majority (63%) of women in state prison are there for a nonviolent offense3. Many women are incarcerated due to substance abuse and mental health problems, which are overwhelmingly prevalent issues in prisons and jails. For women there is also a staggering, widespread incidence of victimization by sexual abuse or other physical violence before incarceration.” According to Kerman, the federal prison system is not effectively combating these issues and suggests that “The Bureau of Prisons should adopt gender-specific policies and programs along the lines of best practices in states such as Washington that reduce recidivism rates, and give women opportunities to reintegrate into their communities and succeed post-incarceration.” Read More. |
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