# Orange is the New Black-Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325 "2016-06-25T15:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/1 "2016-06-25T15:17:05Z")
Do you think the portrayal of prison life in the show could cause some women to want to try it or at the least, not worry so much to avoid it? I mean they dont really have to work, they get 3 meals a day and a bed, they can make friends, sell their underwear for money etc… Its not unusual:[LINK 1](http://www.slavebound.com/do-some-people-want-to-go-to-prison-.html),[Link 2](http://www.oddee.com/item_98692.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/2 "2016-06-25T15:24:09Z")
I guess if you do not currently have three meals and a bed you would be tempted. But for the rest of the population I do not think the show makes prison a tempting option. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/3 "2016-06-25T15:40:03Z")
I don’t know very many people who’d want to wear maxi pads for shower shoes. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/4 "2016-06-25T15:45:17Z")
I’m no expert, but I’m guessing prison isn’t much like the show portrays. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/5 "2016-06-25T15:47:28Z")
Also, they are in a minimum security prison. They are making a show about the “country club prisons” that are always being talked about. And no, that doesn’t look fun. The people for whom even minimum security prison would be a step up probably can’t afford a TV, let alone a Netflix subscription. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/6 "2016-06-25T16:34:18Z")
I think the intense relationships and belonging to a group can be alluring in OITNB. I’ve read that some offenders commit crimes shortly after being released because they miss prison/prison is the only life they can conceive of/three squares and a bed can be better than sleeping in an alley. Sometimes, when I’m overwhelmed with work, I fantasize about being sent to prison for a month. I picture four blissful weeks of reading and taking long walks around the track. But the real situation of having no privacy and dealing with other peoples’ smells, noise, and aggression is not one I would survive. Plus, I snore REALLY loud and Red would kill me in my bed 🙂 My colleague jokes about the same thing, but her nightmare is that she would be made to teach GED classes all day. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/7 "2016-06-25T17:56:23Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t know very many people who’d want to wear maxi pads for shower shoes. If they can GET maxi pads. The majority of women are required to _buy_ them, if they’re in stock at all. This is egregious. [Menstruation can become himiliation](http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/06/menstruation-can-become-humiliation-in-prisons.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/8 "2016-06-25T19:37:47Z")
Once upon a time I had a job where, when I looked out my window, I could see a halfway house catty-corner. During a particularly demanding summer, when we not only worked a lot of OT but were forbidden from using our vacation time because of all the work, I used to look at this halfway house and fantasize about being there. They were sitting on the front porch, eating chips, drinking Pepsi, smoking cigarettes, with their feet up on the railing. Talking and laughing, reading books, napping. Just having a ball. I was slaving away and not allowed to take vacation. Who was in prison here anyway? Of course, in order to get to this halfway house, they had to have been in prison/jail. But again, how bad could that be? Compared to spending 12 hours a day, and a few hours on the so-called weekend, slaving away. (At least I got OT. The lawyers didn’t get OT. I ended up making more than the junior associate that year, because I got OT and she didn’t.) But in reality? No. They would probably put me in work-release. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-is-the-new-black-question/758325/9 "2016-06-26T02:12:31Z")
Watching the Brady Bunch didn’t make me want to have six kids.