The Real Story Behind ‘Orange is the New Black’
  • August 14, 2013

The Real Story Behind ‘Orange is the New Black’

The Real Story Behind ‘Orange is the New Black’

Netflix’s new hit show aims to address inequality in the application of criminal justice. 

Chris Hayes
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The US criminal justice system disproportionately incarcerates individuals from disadvantaged communities, particularly people of color. For privileged Americans, this system is often an afterthought—prison is for other people. Netflix’s new hit show Orange is the New Black aims to address what happens when these two worlds collide. The show, which is based on a true story, chronicles the travails of Piper Chapman, an upper-class white women, as she spends a year in federal prison.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes is joined by Piper Kerman, the author of the memoir on which the show is based, to discuss the unequal application of criminal justice, as well as Kerman’s year in prison and the women with whom she spent it.

—Jake Scobey-Thal

Salamishah Tillet on how the show seeks to challenge the racial stereotypes of women of color.

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Chris Hayes Chris Hayes is the Editor-at-Large of The Nation and host of “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.


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