October book: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

chosen by Pen

Book Description:

When Piper Kerman was sent to prison for a ten-year-old crime, she barely resembled the reckless young woman she'd been when she briefly dabbled in the world of drug trafficking.

Happily ensconced in a New York apartment with a promising career and an attentive boyfriend, she was suddenly forced to reckon with the consequences of her actions.

Kerman spent 13 months in prison, eleven of them at Danbury, Connecticut, where she met a varied community of women.  In this memoir, she tells the story of those months and the women — the codes of behaviour and arbitrary hierarchies — and offers a unique perspective on the criminal justice system.

What we discussed about the book:

All of us found the book an easy read.  Some enjoyed it and found it addictive, while others thought it was inane, and not particularly well-written or pulled together, with random statistics being thrown in.  Most of us thought it would be more in-depth and were disappointed to find things glossed over.

This led to an interesting discussion about correctional services.  Some expressed the opinion that mandatory sentencing is fundamentally flawed.  The separation of mothers from their families simply perpetuates the cycle that landed the women in jail initially.  Need to set up programmes in the community to assist with re-entry into society.  The programmes in this book were clearly not suitable and followed a flawed government model of 'one size fits all'. 

We also discussed the following:

Were the Bureau of Federal Prisons able to claim Piper as a success story? 

No, she didn't need rehabilitation in the first place, so putting her in prison was simply a waste of taxpayers' money. There definitely needs to be a deterrent for drug crimes but there also needs to be an element of sensibility.  We didn't condone what Piper did, but at the end of the day, she was a very minor player.  Bridget felt sentencing should be based on the impact of the crime on other people.  Bree felt sentencing needs to take the offender into account.  Justice doesn't look at the crime holistically.  For example, people living in ghettos are surviving the only way they know how.  If we apply the same model to everybody, it is cyclic.

What are the special strengths and weaknesses of women in tight-knit, single-sex communities?

We felt that women are nurturers, forming little families.  We are conversation-based and can talk for hours, while men are activity-based and DO things together rather than talking. In the example of this book, the cultural differences were very apparent and the women naturally formed 'tribes' based on their culture.

Should prisons be run by private for-profit organisations?

We talked again about how it's not the idea that's flawed but rather the delivery.  Prisons need to answer to government, but outcome should be people are being rehabilitated, not incarcerated and then released into the community to reoffend.

Movie characters:

• Piper - Helen Hunt or Kim Raven or Alison van Reeken
  
• Larry - Josh Radnor (Ted from How I Met Your Mother)

And before that we chatted about:

Pip's Gold Coast holiday - it rained just about the whole time and they didn't know anyone at the wedding.

Renovations — Pen is moving back into their house after a month of being out, although it will be another month until the kitchen is done.  Sharon is wanting to add on a few more rooms but it's difficult getting a builder to work in the Hills.

Work — Rachael is on a 12 month secondment to the Swan River Trust and needs some news.  Looks like a tough gig based on your facebook photos Rach.  Jack is working with Tim Evans.  PR in Perth is a very small world!

Favourite TV shows - love Offspring and Mad Men!

And in other news:

We're all looking forward to a night out at Balthazar!

Ratings

Ratings average: 5.8

Ratings range: 5 — 7