Screening Women’s Imprisonment

Abstract

Since the time it was first broadcast in 2013 and despite its unquestionable commercial success, Netflix prison comedy-drama Orange Is the New Black has garnered equal shares of praise and blame. Countless articles have appeared in the popular press discussing the show’s treatment of race, sexuality, and class, as well as its depiction of the American prison system, while academics have also begun to comment on the series. This special issue aims to continue the work initiated on this important television series, while adding to a growing body of scholarship on popular representations of punishment in the age of US mass incarceration.