“ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK” QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Who has seen the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black?”
2. What was the most revealing or shocking thing you learned about life in the Camp?
3. What parts of the book did you find humorous?
4. What do you think precipitatedPiper’s foray into crime? What might have made thedrug world so enticing?
5. Clearly the author’s race, education and socioeconomic statushad an impact on her experience. Should that matter when weconsider her story? Do these factors make her story more or lesscredible? What’s the difference between Danbury FCI and the correctional facilitiesshe is transferred to at the end? Does Piperchange in these harsher environments?
6. Piper is indicted for a crime she committed several years earlierand is sentenced to more than a year in prison. At the time she is incarcerated, she is a self-aware woman with a steady joband solid relationships. Once Piper meets other prisoners,she expresses concern over many of their sentences,which often seem disproportionate to the crimes committed.For example, prisoners receive fifty-four months for Internetfraud and two years for a marijuana charge, but a guard convictedof sexually abusing prisoners receives one month. Womenfrom poor communities often seem to be serving longersentences than middle-class prisoners. How do these sentences,including Piper’s, fit in with your idea of prison’s role in societyand the purpose of punishment? What are the biggest crimes inthis story, who commits them, and what is their punishment?
7. Many crimes related to the sale of illegal drugs are non-violentcrimes and are the reason the majority of the women in thebook are in prison. Do you think low-level non-violent drug offenders shouldbe put in prison?
8. Throughout the book, prisonersendure many humiliating tasks at the hands of theguards. Interestingly, the incidentsthat most affect Piper seem to be when one guard refuses to callher by her last name at mail call, sexual harassment from her bosson the electrical job, and an uncomfortable gynecologicalexam. Why do you think that is?
9. The women in the prison have their own definite social system. What purpose do these social systems serve for prisoners? How do things like food and humor play a role inprisoners’ survival? What special strengths and vulnerabilities dowomen have when they are in tight-knit single-sex communitiessuch as Danbury? How do you think the needs (emotional andotherwise) of incarcerated men and women differ, and how dotheir needs differ once they return home?
10. What kind of educationwere these women missing in prison? What skills could theyhave been given that would help them establish themselvesas productive members of society? How can people convictedof felonies be successfully reintegrated into society?
11. At the end of Chapter 8, Piper discusses the relationship betweenguards and prisoners. How do you think prison guards maintain their humanity when the very requirement of their jobis to restrict the rights of individuals? Are there any guards orpersons of authority in Piper’sstory who favorably distinguishthemselves by their behavior?
12. Should prisons be run by private, for-profit corporations as theyare in many states? It is currently legal to make a profit imprisoningthe mentally ill, poor, and addicted—but is it ethical?
13. After readingthe book,do you think our prisonsystem is successful? Do you think its dramatic growth overthe last thirty years—nearly 400 percent more Americans inprison—is good? Why or why not?
14. What is your overall rating of the book from one to five stars (with five being the best)?