Orange is the New Black, Education or Entertainment?: The Portrayal of Female Inmates Within the Media

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Media images are critical in shaping people’s understanding of social issues. In general, criminal justice media representations have been criticized due to the trivialisation of inmates. Specifically, in many cases not only are female inmates largely invisible, but also the portrayal of incarcerated females in the media is distorted through the trivialising and sensationalization of prison life. In addition, this leads to a viewer’s misleading interpretation, bias and/or stereotype toward female inmates based on how female characters are represented within the media, which is often based on fear or entertainment. The current literature on the realities of the prison experience and prison adjustment is reviewed, compared and contrasted with a focus on women in prison. The series Orange is the New Black is reviewed and analyzed to demonstrate the accuracy of the realities of females' adjustment, adaptation and experience of prison, according to current and past prison research.

Authors

• Jamie Gesualdo, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

• Carla Cesaroni, University of Ontario Institute of Technology