Orange is the New Black is a drama TV show that has lasted 7 seasons so far. The lead character’s name is Piper Chapman, played by Taylor Schilling. The show mainly takes place in a women’s minimum security prison in Litchfield, New York. Piper is sentenced to 15 months in the prison for being an accomplice to her girlfriend’s, Alex Vause, money laundering scheme. All 7 seasons show different types of scenarios that inmates face while in prison. Some of the scenarios include being mistreated by guards, being separated from family, families being torn apart, inmates becoming depressed, and inmates getting forced into joining a gang.

There is one scene in Season 4 that really stuck with me. During lunchtime, two inmates, Maritza and Flaca, joke about a hypothetical scenario involving having to choose between eating ten dead flies or a baby mouse at gunpoint. One of the guards overhears their conversation and later, when he has Maritza alone in a room, he makes the hypothetical scenario become real. He has a pile of dead flies and a cup with a baby mouse inside it. While pointing a gun, which he isn’t supposed to have on shift, to Maritza’s head he tells her to choose. Scared for her life, she chooses to swallow the mouse.

I personally know someone who is in prison and from him, I get a different perspective on prison life. My uncle, Tuti, has been in prison since I was young and still has about 15 more years to serve. Thankfully, he has never been wrongfully treated by anyone while being in there, but he has told me stories about people who have been mistreated. He says that prison life is a very difficult and scary lifestyle. Even though he’s been in prison for more than 15 years, he says it’s something you never really get used to.