Orange Is the New Black, the popular Netflix show based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, brought female prisons into America’s living room, highlighting several issues that are plaguing the correctional system.
While the show exaggerates some of the illegal activities that happen in a prison, it accurately depicts how security personnel can exacerbate the problems that led to incarceration in the first place, thereby increasing the rate of recidivism rather than recovery.
The narrative is fascinating from a social sciences standpoint because of the bonds between the characters. From Piper to Red to Gloria, they are all searching for ways to recover from trauma or psychological impediments while simultaneously learning to trust (or mistrust) security personnel. This highlights a key component in rehabilitation: building relationships.
More women are serving time in the United States than ever before and incarceration in the women’s prison system is growing at a rate faster than it is in the men’s system. From 1980 to 2010, the number of female prisoners increased from 15,118 to 112,797, according to The Sentencing Project. From 2010 to 2013 the population grew another 10.9 percent.
[For more of this story, written by Mary Ellen Mastrorilli, go to http://blogs.scientificamerica...e-prison-population/]
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