ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines elements that need to receive increased attention to advance dialogue about our sisters behind bars. Unfortunately, however, the show often gives a nod to progressive thought but then ultimately is okay with audience indifference as it structurally returns to predictable power dynamics. To illustrate the limitations of the general discourse surrounding this population it is instructive to analyze the beginning episodes of the first highly successful television drama about female prisoners, Orange is the New Black (OITNB). The chapter demonstrates the inmates' inadequate mental health and post-traumatic experience rehabilitation and their frustration with the therapy unit, an intensive behavioral modification program aimed at former drug and alcohol users. Before discussing the mental health situation in detail, it is important to consider the similarities amongst women in prison. Several of the women talked about families that were cult-like with many kids, living in isolated areas, and home-schooled at times.
