She spent 13 months at a correctional centre in Danbury, Connecticut from February 2004. As a white, middle-class prisoner, Kerman quickly became aware of the ways the prison system fails Americans – but particularly poor Americans, and people of colour. Since her stint behind bars, she’s become a vocal advocate for prisoners rights.

She’s been on the board of the Women’s Prison Association for six years and teaches non-fiction writing in two prisons in Ohio. And in a move that brought her story to prominence, she also wrote a memoir that served as the inspiration for hugely popular Netflix show Orange Is The New Black.

  

Check out BuzzFeed News for an informative sit down with Piper Kerman and see what she wants people to know about prison.