This Is Prison
Everything happens for a reason.  Good or bad -- it doesn’t matter.  That shirt you stole, that test you cheated on, that crime you committed -- you did it for some reason.  We often regret things we have done in our past, but at some time or another, we thought it was okay to do them.  Yes, it is impossible to completely forget about horrors of the past -- they often add bones to our closet of skeletons, however sometimes we can correct the past for ourselves.  Getting in trouble as a teen usually leads to punishment by a parent; getting in trouble as an adult often leads to punishment by jail, or even worse, prison.  But what about getting in trouble as an adult for a crime you committed as a teen?  What happens then?  Well, you get a court date and might just have to drop it all for prison.  Having to leave a good life or maybe even family that you have built for yourself after committing a relatively small crime some ten years prior, is unnecessary and in some ways, unfair.  In the narrative, Orange Is The New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, Piper Kerman uses her story as insight of the struggles faced in prison; her experience has led me to believe that smaller crimes (such as Piper’s) should not be punishable after ten or more years have passed, as it is likely that the “criminal” has gotten his or her act together and should not have to pointlessly struggle through time at a correctional facility.   This is not to say that a murderer or rapist should be able to freely walk after being caught twenty years after the actual crime, but if the crime committed is something as minor as being pressured to smuggle drug money, one time, as Piper had done -- the physical and emotional toll of prison is just not fair.  Perhaps Kerman successfully pulled me into her trap as I felt myself connected to her and rooting for her throughout the narrative, but I know for a fact that she completely changed the way I view the legal system and the way our government works.  Piper should not have been forced into prison because at this point in her life she had completely turned her lifestyle around and had even begun to start a family, the influence put on her in prison appears to hold more negative effects than positive rehabilitation, and our government is too strict and excessive on criminals of a small scale level, like Piper. 
When Piper Kerman graduated college she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do with her life.  Her girlfriend at the time, however, had pulled her into the life of the typical druggie.  Although she was living the nightlife, it took her girlfriend a lot of time and convincing to finally get Piper to smuggle a little drug money for a South African drug lord -- Piper only did this to win over the affection of her lover.  Immediately after her actions she knew she was being used and wanted out of the life she had been living.  At this point she moved away from her crowd and started her life with a clean slate.  She got a job, reconnected with good old friends, and even rebuilt relationships with her family.  After a couple of years she met the man who would end up being the love of her life, Larry.  The past was put behind her and her normal, good life was ahead of her.  This was until one day, ten years after her crime, ten years after she left her one mistake behind and became a better person, when there was a knock on her door.  It was the police and they were there to arrest her.  The South African drug lord that she had affiliated with that one time had been busted, and names of those involved were being thrown around like crazy -- one of which was Piper Kerman.  At this point Piper didn’t know what to do.  That life was so far behind her that none of the people she was associating with, including her family and Larry, even knew about her actions.  Piper owned up to her crime and was sentenced to 13 months in Women’s prison where her entire life would change.  After her time in jail Piper wrote the expanded version of this experience, with prison stories and personal opinions included immensely.  Piper described her time in prison as a waste in some ways, she did not see the benefit or the rehabilitation aspect to it other than keeping dangerous criminals off the street.  In her own words, “We have a racially based justice system that over punishes, fails to rehabilitate, and doesn't make us safer” (200).  So yes, prison is the perfect place for dangerous criminals such as murderers, rapists, and long standing drug lords/dealers, however it certainly does not sound like the place for a good woman who committed a minor crime ten years prior to have to reside. 
Aside from the fact that Piper Kerman’s crime of so long ago shouldn’t have landed her in prison, her time in prison actually held negative effects on her emotional well being.  If anything, it did just the opposite of rehabilitation by introducing her to a world of criminal activity she had never heard of, and without time in prison, would never have encountered.  Throughout her sentence, Piper read lots of books, she wrote, she made friends, she saw the bad side of people, and dealt with some of the worst people the world has to offer.  She walked in expecting to be “rehabilitated,” and walked out with her conclusion of what prison truly taught:  “They told us that it was important to eat right, exercise, and treat your body as a temple. But they didn't tell us how to get health care services that people with no money could afford. They didn't tell us how we could quickly obtain birth control and other reproductive health services. They didn't recommend any solutions for behavioral or psychiatric care, and for sure some of those broads needed it. They didn't say what options there might be for people who had struggled with substance abuse, sometimes for decades, when they were confronted by old demons on the outside” (173).  Prisons often fail to rehabilitate and ironically house even more crimes.  Piper’s days often consisted of the big and bad prisoner’s harassing her by stealing her stuff, calling her abusive names, or yelling inappropriate words at her in the shower room.  These were all things that Piper Kerman would put behind her, but they are also things that she will never forget.  Her thirteen months in prison did all but rehabilitate her.  They caused her stress and anxiety and led to PTSD.  This woman did not deserve to be pulled out of her perfectly normal adolescent life for a situation like this.  Kerman really wants her narrative to open the eyes of those who are blind to what prison actually does to people.  Piper believes that: “The public expects sentences to be punitive but also rehabilitative; however, what we expect and what we get from our prisons are very different things. The lesson that our prison system teaches its residents is how to survive as a prisoner, not as a citizen - not a very constructive body of knowledge for us or the communities to which we return” (148).  Prison did little good for Piper, however it allowed her to share these eye opening experiences with the public. 
Piper Kerman was unnecessarily forced to suffer over a year in a tough correctional facility causing her stress that she shouldn’t have had to undergo. This aside, Piper also used her story to enlighten us on the harsh and somewhat extreme imprisonment of American citizens.  Kerman is not claiming that imprisonment related to drug crimes is inhumane by any means, she is simply suggesting that our government is a little too easy to imprison those on the small drug crimes, or a one time crime that
occurred long ago, when they would benefit so much more with simply charging a fine to cases of those similar to Kerman’s.  Kerman provided some interesting facts regarding prison and drug crimes, through research she discovered that: “Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses are the primary reason that the U.S. prison population has ballooned since the 1980s to over 2.5 million people, a nearly 300 percent increase. We now lock up one out of every hundred adults, far more than any other country in the world” (123).  Kerman often wrote of all the inmates she encounters in prison, and a shocking majority of them are there for some sort of drug related crime.  While most of those belong in prison, and have done their fair share of crimes to get them there, Piper along with a selected other few she wrote of were taken there unjustly. 
After reading Orange Is The New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, it became clear to me as the reader that Prison is a rough place.  Prison has a completely different atmosphere than what I had previously believed, I also believe that it is not a place where a girl like Piper Kerman belongs.  Piper made a mistake, she messed up, and she did it for a reason.  However her reasoning was not to harm anyone, but to win the affection of a girl she loved -- after realizing her actions she immediately backed out and began living a good life.  All taking Piper Kerman to prison did was take money out of our pockets as American Citizens.  We should not have to pay for someone to eat and reside in jail if she doesn’t need to be there.  Save prison space for those who truly belong there, who are dangerous people when out on the streets, and who would actually benefit from time in prison.  The government needs to recognize that people like Piper are not criminals, simply regular humans who mess up and should not land themselves in prison for one incident that happened oh so long ago.  Piper Kerman is alive today, she is married to Larry, she has great friends and an awesome family.  It is time for the government to realize who doesn’t need to waste time and money in a cell.  What Piper went through was hell.  What Piper went through was prison.