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1.     All answers must be typed. 12 font, double spaced with 1 inch margins.   2.     All answers should be a minimum of half a page. 5.     You must answer the entire question in order to receive credit.  I will not give partial credit.  6.     You must have a works cited page.  Failure to have a works cited page will result in a 25 point deduction.   **ANSWERS FROM BOOK: Orange Is The New Black: My Year In A Women’s Prison, by Piper Kerman QUESTIONS: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (10 Points) 1.     Piper’s first taste of prison comes when she surrenders herself to the guards at Danbury. Throughout the memoir, the prisoners endure a number of humiliating tasks at the hands of the guards—arguably, the most vivid being the naked squat/cough ritual after every visitation. Interestingly, though, the incidents that most affect Piper seem to be when one guard refuses to call her by her last name at mail call, sexual harassment from her boss on the electrical job, and a gruff, uncomfortable gynecological exam. Why do you think that is? How do these humiliating encounters shape her view of prison life and of the psychic effects of incarceration on prisoners? ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (10 Points) 2.     The women in the prison have a very definite social system of their own. What purposes do those social systems serve for the prisoners? How do things like food and humor play a role in prisoners’ survival? What special strengths and vulnerabilities do women have when they are in tight-knit single-sex communities such as Danbury? How do you think the needs (emotional and otherwise) of incarcerated men and women differ, and how do their needs differ once they return home?   ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (10 Points) 3.     At the end of Chapter 8, Piper discusses the relationship between guards and prisoners. How do you think prison guards can maintain their humanity when the very requirement of their job is to restrict the rights of individuals? Are there any guards or persons of authority in Piper’s story who favorably distinguish themselves by their behavior?   ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (10 Points) 4.     Clearly the author’s race, education, and socioeconomic status have an impact on her experience. Should that matter when we consider her story? Do those factors make her story more or less credible? What’s the difference between Danbury FCI, where the author spends most of her time, and the correctional facilities she is transferred to toward the end of the story? Does Piper change in these harsher environments?   ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (10 Points) 5.     Should prisons be run by private, for-profit corporations as they are in many states? It is currently legal to make a profit imprisoning the mentally ill, poor, and addicted—but is it ethical? ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (50 Points) 6.      After reading Orange Is the New Black, do you think our prison system is successful? Do you think its dramatic growth over the last thirty years—nearly 400 percent more Americans in prison—is a good thing for the country? Why or why not? What do you think the author is trying to accomplish by telling her story?