Which is exactly one of the iconic images of Orange is the New Black, an iconic Netflix television comedy drama that was about the adventures of a white-collar suburbanite who spent time in prison and described her experiences. OITNB, as it's called, gave some insight into what it's like at an all-women's federal correctional facility, like rival gangs starting up in the prison, lesbian activity, smuggling drugs and trading cigarettes, but it also revealed some of the lighter parts of the inmates and their backstories. I was definitely hooked for 2 seasons and binge-watched, one episode a night. I suspect that the TV series toned down some of the everyday life in prison and romanticized it a bit with "movie nights" and Valentine's day dances, and I'm under no illusion that it's just one big happy family in the slammer, as the series sometimes alluded it could be. I was suprised at the inmates receiving bunk beds, as I've definitely lived in hostels that were in worse shape than those living conditions, and probably smelled worse. (I imagine a women's prison would be big on having at least some nice-smelling aromas). The locker-room style showers and solitary confinement are no joke, but the jobs that all the inmates seem like everyday jobs and have some real-world application: working in the library as a librarian, working in the kitchen as cooks/ assistants, one inmate even drove a van to drive people in and out of the prison to the hospital and other areas....seems like a bit of a flight risk? (Turns out it was).
The biggest parallel, of course, between OITNB prison and high school, was the lunch area. Finding a spot to sit with people which identifies which "group" you're in, one of the more daunting adventures for any unpopular person. The food...does the best with what they've got, I guess, as I remember plenty of "hot dog days" and "pizza days," but definitely not any gourmet dishes or anything to write home about; I'm just glad I got by. The overwhelming sense that I got looking back was that high school isn't just a place for people to learn and get the basic knowledge they need for the rest of their lives (a noble aspiration but not realistic for some of the folks whom I went to high school with) but also to keep the students/inmates IN for about 8 hours a day or long enough so they can be out of parents' hair and have something function to keep them out of trouble and out of the rest of society. It definitely felt a bit like that with the reporting to classes by the time the bells rang, and asking for permission to use the bathroom, needing special permission to go out to different restaurants for lunch. It's kind of amazing that some students were 18 (as was I) by the time I was ready to graduate high school and still subject to some of the strict regulations and stuck within the confines of a steel block high school. All that was missing was the mandatory lying down on our stomachs right on the spot for when the alarms sounded for a security breach. And the people! It's kind of a jungle in high school, no one to hold your hand to protect you from bullies or social isolation.....the teachers just can't keep up with that. It was tough in 2001-2005 when I was in high school, and the internet was just getting started and smartphones weren't even around back then. I can't imagine what it's like now. A whole new kind of prison, perhaps.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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