ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some of the injustices that face transgender inmates in the United States. It also highlights the positive contributions of Laverne Cox to the broader movement towards transgender visibility as victims, offenders and inmates by focusing on her portrayal of the character Sophia Burset on the Netflix original drama Orange is the New Black (OITNB). The chapter discusses the trans experience in prison, the media portrayal of trans inmates, and the impact of Orange is the New Black's portrayal in particular, as well as Laverne Cox's broader influence. In their 2015 article discussing transgender inmates in prison, Routh and his co-workers identified the crux of the problem with classifying transgender inmates is the strict use of binary sex categories for assigning offenders to correctional institutions. The lack of knowledge about transgender men and women furthers the invisibility that these folks face regardless of whether they are inmates.
