If I’m being honest, this season of Orange Is The New Black was not my favorite, but that’s beside the point. The point is that this season touched upon many real issues that are happening today, issues that media and pop culture are choosing to ignore. This is one of the many things I love about OITNB: it depicts real, raw issues that regular people are facing and dealing with every day. It calls attention to these issues, and creates a platform where people experiencing these same issues can feel included and connected (although I doubt many prisoners have access to Netflix, there are other family members of inmates or released inmates who watch the show and can feel this sense of connection).

Here are seven issues that were depicted in Season 4 that I felt were important to call attention to:

(Spoiler Alert)

1. Racism and "White Power" in the US.

Piper ends up unintentionally starting a white power movement in the prison with some of the white women. And while you’re watching this happen, you’re thinking about how ridiculous and awful it seems. However, we're all aware that the white lives matter movement is a very real idea in today’s American society. These white individuals feel that by having movements, such as Black Lives Matter, exist they are being excluded, and therefore their rights are being infringed upon. But the reality is that white people in the US are the ones with all the power and privilege. They are the ones that are holding power away from people of color (POC) – whether directly or indirectly – and POC are the ones being discriminated against, abused, and oppressed, not white people.

Piper is branded with a swastika for her “hate” crimes against the Hispanics, and this is a reminder of where white power initially grew from and the detrimental causes that stem from it. This hints at why it was not an accident or coincidence that a black prisoner was the one that was accidentally killed by a prison guard. This is the harsh reality of our prison system: it is built upon oppression and racism while targeting POC, especially African Americans, and POC are the ones paying the highest price. Once Poussey is killed, the prison and media immediately look for a way to spin the story. They look for any violent or terrible angle on her to make it seem like she brought it on herself, but Poussey does not fit any of the racialized stereotypes that the media usually portrays. Instead her name is dropped from all media attention, because if you’re not a violent black inmate, you’re not worth mentioning on the news.

Part of the divide that is caused between different racial classes is the concept of othering, defined as: any action where an individual or group is classified by someone or a group as “not one of us”. By labeling someone in this manner people forget that this person is a human, and begins viewing them as something less than – which makes them less worthy of respect and dignity. This can help create stronger bonds within groups but causes extreme conflicts with other groups; which is exactly what happens in OITNB. Once all the new girls are assigned to their bunks, everyone slowly learns to accept these newbies and breaks off into their racialized groups, becoming more segregated than ever. Soon the conflicts between racial groups begin and the “white power” movement among white prisoners arises, causing the Hispanic inmates to become stigmatized and mistreated. Yet when these groups try to lay their differences aside and work together for a common goal, one of the white power movement members remarks that the POC actually seemed kind of nice (until her white peers shoot her down and she quickly followed the sentence with an insult).

This othering is a concept that is very real in our society and leads to many of the types of conflicts that can be seen depicted in OITNB – and the show demonstrates how serious of an issue this is. But one of my favorite parts of the serious was when the leaders of all the groups/races came together to fight a common evil – the system. And that’s when they had the most power and momentum against the “bigger guy” (metaphorically and literally haha). This scene was a reminder that racism is used as a tool of separation between lower individuals. It creates separation and conflict, and a fight to gain power – which detracts attention and effort against the bigger battle: fighting the system that created the oppression in the first place. And OITNB hit this concept spot on.

2. Lack of Gun Control

This has been a huge pressing issue over the past few years, and the pressure on this concept is only growing. OITNB spared no expense when hitting on this issue. I’m not sure how many of you caught on to the flashback scene of Suzanne working in a store. The scene starts with her joking around with a mother and her sons, and talking about all the kid-friendly items in the aisles. And then as soon as the family leaves, a man drives his shopping cart up to Suzanne, who checks off his list of items and completely breezes by the huge gun in his cart (and on his receipt). Neither her nor her supervisor bat an eyelash to this. But it was not a coincidence that OITNB paired these two concepts right after each other, just a few years after Sandy Hook. It was a reminder of how easy people can buy guns, how normal it is to expose children to these items at a young age. A reminder that something isn’t quite right with this scenario and something needs to change.

There’s also the incident where the guard brings a gun into the prison. He does this to protect himself against “the rowdy inmates”, even though the guards were the ones responsible for killing an innocent prisoner the day before. This was a reminder on how inmates and black citizens are treated: the loss of one of their lives means nothing but their reactions to this incident mean everything. Black people’s actions can never be accepted, when they are innocent they are still persecuted and blamed, and when they get angry or act out at this persecution they are then feared and punished. This cop did not have any good intentions with bringing this gun into the prison, and yet the other guards let him for the sake and fear of brotherhood. This gun is exactly what caused the stakes of the prison riot to dramatically increase, and although we were left on a cliffhanger it’s safe to assume that the situation is going to become quickly escalated next season. This escalation which could have been reduced if a gun was never brought into the picture. Which is a concept that happens all the time in the real world. Yes there are other ways of killing people, and yes there are other tragic violent acts that occur, but it doesn’t change that fact that guns can unnecessarily escalate a situation dramatically – especially a violent one.

3. Corruption occurring in the US prison system

In season 4 of OITNB we see MCC become privatized. What some people may not know is that the for-profit prison industry in the US is drastically growing. Nearly half of immigrant detainees are held in privately run detention facilities. These places are run like a business, and the people in charge have no real idea of what’s going on inside of their “business walls”. OITNB perfectly depicts this when Linda, one of the new MCC higher ups, attempts to describe the prison to Caputo, and he points out to her that her description is wrong, and she’s clearly never stepped foot inside of a prison; never mind her prison. This is sadly the truth to many for-profit facilities, the people in charge have no real concept of how their choices are affecting real people’s lives.

Even Caputo has no idea what’s going on in the prison once he becomes promoted and Piscatella steps in. Piscatella starts making unreasonable and unlawful decisions behind his back and hides these decisions from Caputo. This creates a power control within the system. The corporate people make demands that the people in the prison must follow and then the prison guards create weird extreme regulations towards the inmates to make themselves feel more in control and at ease. These people view these criminals as profit machines, people that can produce labor cheaply for them and who in their mind deserve this treatment for being criminals – but they’re still people. Nonetheless the guards herd these people like cattle, and treat them as such. And when the prisoners try to act out or retaliate they use tools of power to subdue them, leaving the prisoners virtually powerless. If you think this is not a power dynamic that happens in real prison systems in the United States, I suggest you educate yourself.

Not only does OITNB depict the power control and domination of inmates, but it portrays the corruption of media and documentation in the prison system. Guards are lying to prisoners, each other, and their superiors, and vice versa. The corporate individuals are lying to superiors and the media, all the while doing their best to control their public image. OITNB gives people a glimpse of how this all works behind the scenes: how a prison, or any for-profit business, goes about making decisions. It gives people a real sense of the politics and corruption that happen, and how it all lines up. How easily incidents can go undocumented, even in a federal facility, and how quickly things can escalate into bigger conflicts. My hope is that seeing this woke some people up, forced them to open up their eyes and minds, and fully realize the truth of this corruption.

4. The Inhumane Treatment of Criminals in the US

What I LOVE LOVE LOVE about OITNB is how it demonstrates (in every season) that criminals are real people too, people that have made mistakes and are now paying for them. Throughout the series they show flashbacks demonstrating how people ended up there, and although these causes vary what remains true is that almost anyone can end up in prison. And sadly many inmates had no other choice than to end up in the prison system. However, the system refuses to see criminals as people, and instead views and treats them as outcasts. OITNB reflects this stigma in their show, and attempts to get viewers to realize the stigmatization of criminals in the US. People always stereotype criminals and assume that they are bad people who deserved their fate. For example, Soso assumes that she’s a low income African American women whose mother was a crack whore – when in fact both of her parents had Ph.Ds. People view prisoners as their files, and not for the human lives they really are. This can be seen when Poussey is killed, and rather than asking people about her the corporate PR individuals fashion an idea of Poussey by gleaming over her file.

Not only does the prison system not view criminals as real people but they also don’t see them as investments, only as profit, and therefore inmates do not receive proper services. We see many women struggle because the prison runs out of free pads and tampons, which then causes the commissary to run out of them. And many women are told to just use toilet paper or purchase items from commissary. But inmates are only allotted a certain amount of toilet paper a week, so what if they run out? Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to afford things from commissary. OITNB does a great job of portraying the struggles of experiencing real life issues that are as simple of having your period. Yet they fail to fully show how inmates struggle when commissary isn’t a realistic item for them.

We see Caputo try to introduce educational programs to increase the well-being of the inmates. But instead the corporation creates “work shops” for the inmates, so they can produce labor. Which obviously there’s a lot of problems with that, but I’ll move on in order to spare a rant you’re probably familiar with anyway. Many of the prisoners also complain about not having time to eat, or adequate meals – and this is because the prison system does not think that education, food, and free-will are high priorities or well deserved. They just care about making a profit and looking good on paper. Which is detrimental to the well-being of inmates. The prison system does not teach real life skills, or help prisoners back onto their feet which is why many inmates end up back in prison. We already know that Alex ended up back in prisoner because she feared the man she sent to jail and broke her parole. But in one episode a guard mentions that a women was released from prison and did not have a ride anywhere, so she hitchhiked and was mistaken for a prostitute and sent back to prison. The prison does nothing to stop incidents like this from happening, and stopping this cycle, because they already view criminals as a lost cause.

Throughout the season many prisoners make protests against the inhumane treatment against them, some even report it to proper officials at times. But these criminals lack any credibility to people and therefore are not believed or valued, and are constantly threatened to be sent to the Psych ward or the SHU. When inhumane conditions arise officials look the other way or use manipulation to make the prisoners at fault and the issue disappears. And many times without evidence of a paper trail nothing can be fixed, and as is depicted it’s pretty easy for that to happen.

5. Rape culture

Previously Doggett was raped by Coates, and in this season the guard struggles with understanding what he did wrong and why she no longer wants to associate with him, while Doggett struggles with understanding and accepting what happened to her. Once he “understands” the severity of his actions he feels bad and frequently tries to win Doggett’s forgiveness. And eventually she does (which must have taken more strength than I can imagine because forgiving your rapist is nowhere easy). But what really infuriated me was, when she forgave him and they shared an intimate moment in the kitchen Coates remarks that it’s taking everything in him not to sleep with her again. This demonstrates that he DOESN’T actually fully understand how much he traumatized her or how awful his decision was. But also it demonstrates that a part of him thinks that she actually WANTED it to happen. Rape culture is so very real in our society, and even when reported (which it usually isn’t) the rapist can still get off scotch-free and not have any understanding of what they have done, leaving the victim mentally and physically assaulted. Coates’s lack of understanding and remorse for what he’s done is unfortunately all too common in our society. It’s how most people view rape scenarios – the victim should just forgive the attacker because they made a tiny mistake but they aren’t actually a terrible person, and besides part of the victim enjoyed it anyway. UGH I’M SCREAMING at how ridiculous this is, and yet I know that countless individuals actually believe this *cough* Brock Turner *cough*.

What also made me mad about this rape situation is that Big Boo gets mad at Doggett for not properly reacting to and handling the situation in a way that she thought was fit. In rape situations the victim is always blamed and harassed about their decisions. If it’s not about the choices they made leading up to and during the incident, it’s their choices after the fact. The bottom line is no one has any room to judge a rape victim’s choices. Their choices do not reflect whether or not they deserved to be raped. AND no one can judge the choices they make after experiencing this traumatic event because everyone deals with trauma differently, and no one has the right to tell them how they should properly cope with that. NO ONE.

6. Lack of Mental Health Services in the US

I really wished that season 4 of OITNB touched on this more, but hell I’m happy they even touched on it at all. One thing that is common knowledge at MCC is that the psych ward is to be feared. Feared. Let that sink in. The place that is supposed to help inmates, and be understanding of their situations, is a source of fear. Sophia does not receive help when the prison stops giving her the estrogen supplements she needs, nor does she receive help when she attempts to commit suicide in the SHU. Instead they bandage her up and send her back on her merry-way as if nothing happened. Lolly is punished for killing a man - which yes is awful, but she is punished rather than helped for her mental instability, and no one bothers asking her why she decided to murder a man when she had no violent record or history. Lorana is sent to prison for stalking men, and continues to hold this obsession with men. But she is never sent for treatment and no one ever checks up on her issues. She’s just left to sit pretty in jail and to deal with these delusions and feelings on her own. Suzanne is persecuted for being different, and never gets help or any sort of understanding for her differences, but instead is labeled as being crazy and is not taken seriously. Yet, to me Suzanne is one of the more straightforward and honest characters. When Alex has suspicions of someone trying to kill her she is not taken seriously. People view her as being paranoid and outcast her, rather than offering her support.

Time and time again the system fails to help its inmates in their times of need. It looks the other way, or ignores the problems, or fixes them by overmedicating individuals and locking them away from the general population of inmates. Not only is the system failing at offering support, so are other people. Individuals themselves are guilty of stereotyping and persecuting mentally unstable people, rather than being understanding or offering assistance. In many situations things would not have escalated so much with individuals had they had support or felt like they were accepted for who they were.

7. Interracial dating

Okay, this topic isn’t nearly as big as the others but it’s still a very important one. I’m sure not many people thought it was a big deal about Poussey and Soso dating, or when Judy King (side note: it’s funny to me that she’s supposed to be their version of Martha Stewart, please tell me you caught that). and Cindy started fake dating. But newsflash if this was a few years ago it would have been HUGE, because interracial dating has just recently been accepted over the past few years (and arguably in some cases it still isn’t), and has also starting being portrayed in the media. AND ITS’S GREAT, because it’s showing others that it’s normal and socially acceptable (DUH). And believe it or not people and children need to see role models for these types of things (although admittedly children probably shouldn’t be watching OITNB).

Of course at the end of the day OITNB is just a tv show and everything depicted in it isn’t real. But media representation is so important for these kinds of topics because it can help open people’s eyes to real life concepts and happenings, and it can make people that are experiencing similar struggles not feel so alone. Yes, the depictions are dramatized but it doesn’t change the fact that it can help people become educated. OITNB has such a big fan base, and by taking advantage of that fan base and depicting to their viewers these very real issues they’re helping spread awareness and understanding to topics that usually go unnoticed. And that’s one of the reasons I love OITNB. I encourage others to watch it, and encourage my peers to engage in conversations with each other about the topics depicted in the series. Conversations help feed the spreading of knowledge and awareness, which in turn helps fuel change.