‘Our prison system shines a light in general about how our society marginalizes people.’ – Piper Kerman, the University of Michigan 2015 Vivian R. Shaw Lecturer, Department of Women’s Studies

Today, I put myself in the shoes of the 830,000 women detained in the United States’ prison system.

I’ll be honest – this is not an issue I’ve thought about often.  My closest encounter to being arrested can be attributed to my almost comedically bad driving skills (I can’t help that my head is all over the place) and a police officer pulling me over about a block away from my house for running a two-way stop sign (by accident, of course).  But that doesn’t even scratch the surface for law-enforcement interaction.

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As a university student with what seems like (almost overwhelmingly so) a ‘world is my oyster’ mentality, the life of an imprisoned United States citizen is a foreign concept.  It comes across as 'someone else’s problem' in the media, the film industry, even on the news...and not relevant to my life.  My closest encounter with a felon was my ten-year-old sister dressing up as a burglar for Halloween a few years ago.  The societal notion of ‘criminal’ or ‘felon,’ are terms I hear thrown around in casual conversation and what’s worse is that I admit to jokingly using the terms myself.  What I didn’t realize until tonight, however, was the aloof nature with which I was perpetuating stereotypes.

At the beginning of the school year, Piper Kerman was announced as the Vivian R. Shaw lecturer through the Department of Women’s Studies.  Kerman’s book Orange is the New Black, is a poignant and startling look inside the real life relationships and atrocities of a women’s prison and the American criminal justice system.  Consequently, she’s taken her time behind bars and turned it into the role of an activist, motivational speaker, mentor and educator, while in the meantime inspiring a full-fledged Netflix binge-watching session in the making.  (DISCLAIMER: I have yet to see the show, but every person on earth seems watch it / rave about it, including my mother, and after witnessing this woman in action I’m going to dive in as soon as I have two full days to dedicate to TV watching.)  My roommate wanted to see her speak and I tagged along, figuring it would be interesting and give me a reason to finally tune in to the show.

I was floored.  It was more than just interesting.

As a nation with 5% of the world’s population, the United States hosts 25% of the world’s prisoners.  The incarceration rate in the United States is up a staggering 650% for women and 400% for men in the last 30-40 years.  When women with children end up behind bars for petty crimes, those children are five times more likely to become foster children.

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The looming uncertainty for many inmates is almost too much to bear, and the cyclical nature of the United States prison system begins to take its toll. 

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I’m not usually a numbers person (math terrifies me, I avoid it like the plague), but as Piper spoke, the numbers stopped being simply statistics.  They represented individual people – many women not much older than my peers and myself – from a host of socioeconomic backgrounds.  Kerman is still close friends with many of the women from the institution, and many of them found ways to be successful, empowered women after their time in the Danbury, Connecticut correctional facility (one woman went on to assist with a British Olympic team – now that is a success story!).  But Kerman knew she was not from the typical demographic of the other prisoners.  She made one bad choice in her early twenties that came back to bite her, but while she was ‘doing time’ (as she referred to it) she had a family and life waiting for her on the other side of her sentence.  

What scared her, she said, were the women who didn’t have family or friends waiting for them to offer support.  ‘That’s when you start to get scared of your release date, and going back to the outside,’ Kerman said.  ‘On my release date, I was given a set of men’s clothing, a windbreaker, and $28,’ Kerman said.  ‘If I hadn’t had someone waiting for me that day in Chicago (after her two months in confinement in the Federal Prison), I don’t know what I would have done.’  For many incarcerated women, the looming uncertainty of fellow inmates is almost too much to bear, and the cyclical nature of the United States prison system begins to take its toll.

Sitting in my seat in the auditorium, I was mystified by the light that had been shed on an issue I had previously known next to nothing about.  Yet it seems to me there are so many problems facing our world – more problems than solutions.  More often than not, this makes me discouraged.  Help is needed on such a large scale, yet I’m only one person.  I know change can start small, but when I watch the news or hear statistics I feel useless.  Thus the question couldn’t help but cross my mind...what does it really mean to be an activist?  Does it have to hold the magnitude of Piper Kerman’s story?  Is it enough to simply believe in the cause?

In the hours following her lecture, I reflected deeply on these questions.  What I realized was that small change is not insignificant, but it requires patience.  I won’t be able to change the fundamental nature of a government institution overnight.  By educating myself, however, and the people around me, I can start a fire at the community level.  

Which brings me to how we can make an impact as activists: focus and responsibility should not be placed solely on victims of the system.  Instead, prevention comes in the form of awareness and stabilizing, diverse communities.  Investing in institutions such as the arts, sciences, and sports at a community level can provide life-changing support for someone who might otherwise fall into the cycle of crime.  I admit it’s frustrating to be patient – but small-scale, forward thinking, and passionate people bring about the most impactful change.

Thank you, Piper, for convincing me that being an activist can come in all shapes and sizes, and for educating young people (like me) about the power of believing in your cause, whatever it may be. 

 

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