January 20, 2015
Due to the popularity of the Netflix show, of which I'm a huge fan, I was on a wait list for this particular eBook for like five months. You can imagine that I was stoked to finally have it show up on my "bookshelf." It's interesting what the writers of the show have taken from Kerman's experiences, and of course a lot of content has been added, for drama and intrigue. But I think ultimately both the book and the series have the same goal: to show people the current problems with our prison system. Indeed, Kerman probably wrote her story to fill a void that she noticed when trying to prepare for her sentence: there weren't really any books about what life's really like for women in prison.
I'm mainly going to run through a comparison of the book and the show it inspired. First off, Piper IRL really did fall for an older woman who was running an international drug smuggling ring. But it sounds like Nora was no Laura Prepon. Plus, Nora and Kerman didn't serve time together, but did see each other again, and kind of reconcile their differences, while on trial in Chicago.
Sorry, fellow lesbians: all of Kerman's prison relationships were strictly platonic. No fun time described in the book; Danbury is much calmer in that regard (or really as a whole) than fictional Litchfield. I don't think Kerman witnessed any physical altercations during her sentence. She mainly focuses her relationship on the friendships she formed, and how she and these other women (all nonviolent offenders) helped each other through the challenges of prison life.
The engaging characters on the show are based on one or two real life people described in this book. Vanessa, the basis for Sophia, does say the line about having to come to prison to become a woman. On the show, a whole backstory is created about Sophia's identity theft crimes, but Vanessa's conviction is never revealed. Pop was the IRL Red, who only told Kerman off harshly for criticizing the food...they actually became good friends. There's a real Pennsatucky, though not a religious nut, and actually a friend to Kerman...she gets new teeth, as on the show. Kerman does butt heads with a religious nut or two, but not even close to the point where her life was threatened.
The real Larry isn't a shmuck like the one played by Jason Briggs. He's a patient support system, and he and Kerman wed after her release. Kerman has a long list of family who come to see her, and her non-judgemental mother comes frequently. As an added bonus, there's no real life Polly, because fuck Polly.
That's not to say that Kerman's stint was easy. She dealt with COs who were often disrespectful; she reflects on stories she's heard of sexual abuse in the prison, or consensual guard-prisoner liaisons that only got the prison in deeper trouble. She was sexually harassed by her first boss in her electrician assignment, but was able to switch to a kinder boss in construction. She makes the point, several times, that the bureaucracy in prison administration is slow at best, and it seems that these people are hardly held accountable for completing the paperwork to grant prisoners their rights.
But worst of all is that crowded prison systems do nothing to actually "rehabilitate" criminals. Kerman's unique perspective as a woman of privilege allowed her to be concerned for her fellow inmates and friends who didn't have what she had: a place to go home to, a good job waiting for her. Through her story, Kerman seeks to advocate for non-violent offenders who have no resources upon release.
Though Kerman's story lacks the often over-the-top drama of the show, it is engaging and important. The two big take-aways are first, that the U.S. locks up too many people, and second, that those prisoners aren't given what they really need: opportunities to break the cycles of poverty or drug addiction or abuse that led them to their crimes in the first place. Imprisoned people are among the lowest on society's totem pole, and based on how badly they're typically treated, it shows just how messed up as a whole our society truly is.
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