Nonfiction Book Discussion Group

The topic is "Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison," by Piper Kerman. After being sentenced to 15 months in prison for involvement with a drug smuggler, Smith graduate Kerman was surprised by the kindness and loyalty of fellow inmates, many of whom were street-hardened drug users with little education or hope for the future. This is a look, from the perspective of a middle class white woman, at the culture of prison as well as at the effectiveness of federal drug policy.