Kerman, author of “Orange is the New Black: My Year in Women’s Prison,” spoke at Delta Gamma sorority’s fourth annual Lectureship in Values and Ethics on Tuesday night in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Alumni Hall. IU and Delta Gamma alumni Amy Wilson helps sponsor the talk every year, making the talk free to the public.
“Some of my most inspirational experiences in college were the speakers I got to see,” Wilson said. “They remove students from their usual routine and remind them of the world outside.”
Jamie Hillner, director of lectureship for Delta Gamma, was responsible for finding a speaker to book. The sorority was looking for someone who could demonstrate passion and drive to the Bloomington community, Hillner said.
“Kerman wrote a great book and it’s now a great show, but what she’s doing in activism now is what really inspires me,” Hillner said.
Kerman began her talk by explaining her road to prison. Kerman started her 15-month prison sentence in 2004.
The number of women in federal prison has increased by 650 percent within the last century, Kerman said. There are currently 200,000 women in American prisons and jails and 830,000 women under probation and parole.
“You may have mixed feelings about these women and their crimes, but it’s important to think about who these women really are,” Kerman said.
She focused on the people she met and the relationships she formed. When she left prison, most people were surprised by her descriptions of what life in prison was really like, Kerman said.
“The last thing I expected was kindness, but that was exactly what I found,” Kerman said.
The presence of humanity and kindness in a place most people try not to think about was very important in the writing of her memoir, Kerman said. She continues to stay in touch with many of the women she met in prison.
“What I wanted in my book was for readers to care as much about the women I lived with as I did,” Kerman said. “I hoped someone would come away with a different idea of who was in prison and why they were there.”
The purpose of the book was not only to describe prison life, but also to help people understand clear issues within the prison system, Kerman said. She spoke on issues of race, gender and class, as well as the ignorance of substance abuse and mental illness within the prison system.
“What’s important to me in the book and the show is that those things are present,” Kerman said.
Kerman now serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association and has spoken across the country as an activist for change in the American federal prison system. She encouraged students to learn more about the criminal justice system, as well as to consider volunteering or donating to organizations to help prisoners.
“If the result of the show and book is that more people are thinking about these things, I could not be more delighted,” Kerman said.
