This is the story of Piper Kerman, and how her personal story from being in prison relates to that of other female offenders. Kerman came from a well educated family, who were mostly doctors, lawyers, or teachers.“Much to the skepticism of my father and grandfather,” she writes, Kerman had majored in theater (Kerman, p. 4), and graduated from Smith College in New England. After college, her classmates and friends were going off to their graduate school programs or new jobs. Kerman, however, decided to stay in Massachusetts. She felt unmotivated pursuing a career in theater, and did not have an interest in truly continuing on with her education. Furthermore, she also felt that she did not have a “meaningful career” (Kerman, p. 4). Kerman wanted to be an independent woman and experience, experiment, and live her own life. She got an apartment with a fellow student, and started “waiting tables at a microbrewery” (Kerman, p. 5). She fell into the habit of partying, which for Kerman, was the beginning of a lifestyle that would eventually lead to something far bigger and more dangerous than she had ever imagined - and one which ultimately led to her conviction. In 2003, Kerman pled guilty to charges of money laundering and drug trafficking. In the early 1990's, Kerman began a relationship with Nora Jansen. She was attracted to her because she felt that Nora had a way of “drawing a person out” (Kerman, p. 6). Kerman also felt that Nora was the only one who paid attention to her. Nora disappeared “in the fall of 1992,” and then “reappeared after Christmas (Kerman, p.6). Nora appeared to be living a very lavish lifestyle, and threw money around in such a way that it always got her attention. Eventually, after reuniting, she asked Kerm... ... middle of paper ... ...ans you!” (Kerman, p. 128). She states that “there was a constant dance between the prisoners and the staff around the rules” (Kerman, p. 128). By giving women access to the same educational materials that they offer to men, it gives them a chance to either learn a trade or give them the option to get their High School Diplomas/GED's if they do not already have them. Providing effective psychiatric treatment by knowledgeable and ethical professionals, and counseling if needed to address any personal issues or problems they may be facing, these female inmates are much better prepared to become more productive members of society. References: Kerman, P. (2010). Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. New York: Spiegel & Grau Belknap, J. (2007). The Invisible Woman: Gender, Crime, and Justice. (3rd Ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Bibbings , Lois , and Donald Nicolson. 2000. “General principles of criminal law'? A feminist
It all began when Piper Kerman just graduated from college with no direction in her life. During this time she met Nora, a sophisticated lesbian who Piper had a peculiar infatuation with. Nora told Piper about the extravagant life she lived because of her involvement with a West African drug lord dealing heroin. Since Kerman had nothing better planned for her life, she decided to join the business since Nora had cajoled her into it. Her role consisted of smuggling drug money for the operation, once moving over ten thousand dollars from Chicago to Brussels. This careless act that seemed innocuous to Kerman at the time ultimately landed Piper in jail on charges of money laundering in conspiracy with drug traffick...
The purpose of Angela Y.Davis in the last two chapters of the book “Are Prisons Obsolete” are the issues that nestled inside the prison industrial complex and what should we do to the abolitionist.
Van Wormer, Katherine S., and Bartollas, Clemens. Women and the Criminal Justice System. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Jenji Kohan’s television series “Orange is the New Black” analyzes the different social issues that are in the spotlight in this day in age. The series seems to shed light on white privilege, stereotypes, and class based issues that exist in today’s society. These types of Marxists ideas are portrayed through each episode which gives audience members a first hand view of the different social conflicts that exist today.
writers are ‘doubly marginal’, being female and a writer in prison whereas at the same time black women suffer threefold- as a woman, prisoner, and African American”(Willingham 57). Although both of these women are prisoners, one of them is viewed as prison writer and another women is viewed just as prisoner. Beside they being treated just by their race, even in an African American society, the perception of looking imprisoned men and women are different, African American women are subjected for gender difference. Willingham mentions the thought of a African American woman, “African American men are almost made martyrs and heroes when they come out of prison but when African American women go back to their communities, the are not only unfit people, they are also marked with the title of unfit mother, and it’s hard to trust us”
The cinematic rendition of Rita Heyworth and The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King: The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, brings many different emotionally connecting themes e.g. Redemption, Innocence, dehumanisation. Though these themes are quite confronting and thought-provoking themes, possibly one of the most significant themes in this film is the consistent representation of the idea of Institutionalism. Darabont explores the perspective that being so accustomed to the situation inside an intuition that the inmates aren’t able to re-assimilate to normal life in society once released from prison. This theme is brought out in the film through a number or characters, in particular: Brooks Hatlen, Tommy and of course the inseparable duo, Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and Andy Dufresne. All of these characters at times display the meaning and understanding of the term institutionalism and how it can have diverse effects on different people with different states-of-mind and different persona’s.
Gender related issues within U.S. Prisons initially involve consideration of the family. Family bonds are often broken whenever a convicted parent is sentenced to jail, according to Nell Bernstein’s article “Relocation Blues.” However, as stated by Carol Fennelly, “There was an outcry about mothers being separated from their children, but nobody bothered to ask what would happen to the dads and their relationship with their kids,” (109). Due to overcrowding, Fennelly explains how convicted fathers are constantly being moved into prisons far from their families, mainly because they do not seem to share that special bond a mother shares with her children; however, this is not always the case. Fennelly’s contribution of using Microsoft Ne...
When the average person thinks of a prison, what is often the thought that comes to mind? Perhaps an environment of reform is envisioned, or maybe a place for punishment. Maybe someone sees them as modern leper colonies, where countries send their undesirables. It could be that prisons are all of these things, or they could be none. With these ambiguities in the general definition of a prison it is easy to say that the everyday person could have no real critical perspective on what they truly are. That being said, if the average person were presented with Angela Davis’s perspective, and the perspective of many scholars, they may be shocked to learn what prisons truly are. This perspective presents prisons as a profitable industrial complex very similar to the military industrial complex. Like the military industrial complex, in the “prison industrial complex,” investors make large amounts of money off the backs of imprisoned inmates. It is interesting to note how similar these two systems are, with closer analysis; it seems to me as though one may have developed from the other. On another note, the prison industrial complex also appears to have a correlation with the globalization of labor; which makes it possible to assume that one contributed to the development of the other here as well. However, where the prison industrial complex’s roots lie is not as big an issue as the simple question of the morality of the practice. A person can know the history of the issue all they want but the important matter is addressing it.
Chesney-Lind, M. (1986). Women And Crime: The Female Offender. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 12(1), 78.
While most of the violent crimes that happens most are them are belongs to men, women have not been the wilting flowers promoted so heartily by Victorian adorers and (right or wrong) often evident in today's society. Before we get into detail about the fascinating phenomenon of the Black Widow, it is worth a brief overview of women's escalating role in the world of violent crime, particularly in the United States.
Coyne uses paradigms within the text to describe the horrible situation in a maximum security federal prison. In “The Long Goodbye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison”, she describes maximum security as “Pit of fire…Pit of fire straight from Hell. Never seen anything like it. Like something out of an old movie about prisoners…Women die there.” (61). Using this paradigm draws the reader in and gives him or her a far fetched example of what maximum security federal prisons are like. Amanda Coyne backs up her claim with many examples of women in the federal prison who are there for sentences that seem frankly extreme and should not be so harsh. For example, in “The Long Goodbye” Mother’s Day in Federal Prison” we learn about a woman named Stephanie. The text states that Stephanie is a “twenty-four-year-old blonde with Dorothy Hamill hair
Traditionally, there has been little research on or interest in the impact of female crime in modern society. In addition, juvenile crime rates are on the rise, which combine for a void of research or information on female juvenile offenders. In general, crime rates for women offenders have risen since the 1990's. Increasing numbers of young women are also offending at higher rates. In a 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Report, the number of arrests of young women had doubled between 1989 and 1993. Twenty percent of all juvenile arrests were committed by girls, an increase of 87 percent. However, according to The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, males are far more likely to admit to criminal involvement than are females. For example, 12 percent of males and 4 percent of females reported carrying a hidden weapon other than a pocketknife in the past year (Wilson, p.150). There are several theories for this rise in crime proposed by modern feminists, including that the introduction of women into traditional male roles prompted women to commit increasingly dangerous and violent crimes. However, this paper will rely on Meda Chesney-Lind's theories from The Female Offender.
Prisons serve the same reason for women and men, they are also tools of social control. The imprisonment of women in the U.S. has always been a different experience then what men go through. The proportion of women in prison has always differed from that of men by a large amount. Women have traditionally been sent to prison for different reasons, and once in prison they endure different conditions of incarceration. Women incarcerated tend to need different needs for physical and mental health issues. When a mother is incarcerated it tends to play an impact on the children also. Over time the prison system has created different gender responsive programs to help with the different needs of female offenders. After being released from prison
In the media, prisons have always been depicted as a horrible place. The film, The Shawshank Redemption, is a prime example that supports the media 's suggestions about prison life. In the film we are familiarized with Andy Dufresne, who is a banker that is wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. While trying to both remain discreet and find his prison identity, he assists Ellis Boyd 'Red ' Redding, a peddler, and Brooks Hatlen. In his attempt to fit into the rough prison subculture, Andy strategically starts a business relationship with the captain Captain Bryon Hadley and Samuel Norton. The film gives an insider 's look at various aspects of prison life. These aspects include prison culture; explicitly, guard subculture and inmate subculture.