Piper Kerman, who wrote the book Orange is the New Black, which inspired the popular Netflix series, is coming to St. Pete this Thursday to give a talk at Eckerd College. Kerman, who went to prison on drug trafficking charges related to events from a decade before, wrote the book in large part to expose prison conditions for women, and a call for reform.
"Women are the fastest-growing segment of the prison population and the number of women incarcerated in the United States has grown by 800 percent in recent decades," reads Eckerd's Facebook invitation for the event. "Of the 200,000 women serving time in U.S. prisons and jails, two-thirds are serving for nonviolent crimes."
The Netflix series it inspired is something of a dark comedy that often focused on prison conditions as well as corruption and institutional racism, largely seen from the perspective of Piper Chapman, the protagonist who is very loosely based on Kerman.
Kerman is expected to discuss her experience in Danbury Correctional Facility in Connecticut as well as prison reform and women's empowerment.
The talk takes place 7 p.m. March 5 at the McArthur Center on the Eckerd College campus.
For more info, visit eckerd.edu.
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2014.