Ashtyn Britt
abritt@lc.edu

For those who haven’t yet watched the final season of “Orange is the New Black,” I highly recommend you get on the closest Netflix account to you and get to binge watching! Some say that the success of “Orange is the New Black” is what put Netflix Original Series on the map, and I would have to agree. “Orange is the New Black” was the first Netflix Original Series that I have personally watched, and it helped me appreciate things in a new perspective.

Along the way I have come to love the different women and men that the series has had to offer, such as Laverne Cox, Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Kate Mulgrew, the fabulous Ruby Rose, and so many more. Alas, all good things must come to an end. What is interesting is the focus on Immigration Camps this season, as well as Piper’s story of what life is like for an Ex-Con on parole after rejoining the rest of society. Like a lot of other previous seasons, there are small things we learn about the justice system, such as how Ex-Cons must be continuously employed to pay for their own parole meetings and drug tests or face being returned to jail, but having to face many restrictions, including a curfew. Makes it difficult to make any money at all, and they often come up short. There is also the discussion of loyalty to prison friends and prison lovers once you’ve rejoined the world and the tough decisions made around that.

While I wish I could have more “Orange is the New Black,” I think for the most part all the characters got a pretty fair and complete ending, although be warned that very few of the endings are anywhere close to happy. I shall miss all of these fictional characters and their lives in prison nonetheless. 

The most important aspect that came from this show comes in the form of a real-life counterpart fund available for donations in order to contribute to a variety of charities to benefit ex-cons trying to re-enter society as regular law-abiding citizens, called the Poussey Washington Fund. The fund is available for receiving donations at crowdrise.com/pousseywashingtonfund and states as follows, “Poussey Washington may have been a fictional character created for television, but her life’s story and devastating fate is all too real for many women in this country. The Poussey Washington Fund will support eight pre-existing nonprofits to benefit organizations focused on social issues surrounding criminal justice and policy reform, immigrants’ rights and helping those affected by mass incarceration. The “Orange Is The New Black” creative team created the fund to support organizations in their effort to rethink, revise and reform justice in America.”