ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Orange is the New Black's (OITNB) portrayal of solitary confinement, and how the series serves as a platform for awareness-raising and celebrity activism against the practice. OITNB has played a remarkable role in raising public awareness about dysfunction in criminal justice and prison systems. The chapter examines how OITNB represents the manifold functions of solitary confinement as a tool of punishment, "protection" for vulnerable inmates, and prison order. Symbolizing the prison within the prison, the portrayal of SHU in OITNB viscerally represents the traumatizing mental, physical, and emotional effects of isolation and its mis/use by prison officials. Piper - and the viewer - soon realize the potentially dire consequences of solitary confinement for unintentional violations of prison rules or resisting the authority of COs. OITNB challenges the traditional positioning of the viewer in crime and prison dramas as the potential victim of crime, instead inviting the viewer to identify with the imprisoned "criminals".
