From Where She Stands: The Official OITNB Podcast connects the storylines from Orange is the New Black with stories from real women whose lives have been impacted by prison. Hosted by Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year In a Women’s Prison, the show explores issues of identity, connection, and hope. Each episode features an exclusive interview with a cast member from Orange is the New Black and dives into real stories from women navigating the prison system in America.
You can listen to From Where She Stands: The OITNB Podcast anywhere podcasts are found, including Apple. Just search From Where She Stands or OITNB.
Episode 1: (In)Touch
In this first episode of From Where She Stands we explore the importance of touch for incarcerated women at Shakopee Correctional Facility in Minnesota. Until recently, the prison has prevented any sort of touching between prisoners: no handshakes, no fist bumps, definitely no hugs. We also look at activity where there is touch inside Shakopee, through hair braiding. This episode is an exploration of the ways incarcerated women try to regain a sense of themselves. Join Piper Kerman in conversation with Uzo Aduba who plays Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren.
Episode 2: (A)part
What does it mean to be undocumented in today’s America? In this episode we speak to this question and more. Listen in as Orange is the New Black’s Diane Guerrero talks about her personal experiences with the many challenges faced by undocumented families. Her parents were detained when she was 14 and this is her story. Join Diane and host Piper Kerman as they discuss what that experience can mean for a family trying to make it in American today.
Episode 3: (Trans)formation
The prison system wasn’t created to allow non-conformity in any way. This week, we visit San Quentin State Prison, a men’s facility in California, where among the almost 4,000 incarcerated men live a small group of incarcerated women. We later talk with Laverne Cox about her role as Sophia and lessons learned along the way.
Episode 4: (Re)birth
In this episode we explore the bond between a mother and child in the context of one of the most constructed and unnatural experiences in modern America: incarceration. We travel back to Minnesota’s Shakopee Correctional Facility to see how women experience birth and motherhood from inside the facility – something Dascha Polanco’s character, Dayanara Diaz, navigates in Orange is the New Black. Dasha and Piper are in conversation to dig deeper into Dascha’s role and her personal story.
Episode 4: (Home)coming
One quarter of women who are released from prison are arrested again within six months of release. Like these women, Susan Burton, founder of A New Way of Life, was in and out of prison throughout her early adulthood. She joins host Piper Kerman to talk about the cycle of incarceration, a cycle Danielle Brooks’ character Taystee also experienced throughout the seven seasons of Orange is the New Black. Danielle and Piper talk this out in the final episode of From Where She Stands.
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