Netflix has hit paydirt with its wildly popular hit, Orange is the New Black. Based on the experience of Piper Kerman, the series chronicles the lives of women whom she encountered during her 15-month prison sentence.

I posted back when Kerman’s book (same title) first hit the shelves, then bestseller list. The memoir was on my to-do list, then fell off my radar. Then came the series. My significant other has fallen victim to all the Emmy nominee and promo hype for the show, chomping at the bit to watch. I made him promise to wait for me to watch with him AFTER I finished the book.

Eyebrows raised. “It was a book?”

Yes…

“And of course you read it.”

It sometimes seems that we have built revolving doors between our poorest communities and correctional facilities,  and created perverse financial incentives to keep those prisons full, at taxpayers’ expense. America has invested heavily in prisons,  while the public institutions that actually prevent crime and strengthen communities- schools,  hospitals, libraries, museums, community centers- go without.

Amen Piper.