Caged Women ― Incarceration, Representation, & Media

The Netflix series Orange is the New Black has drawn widespread attention to many of the dysfunctions of prisons and the impact prisons have on those who live and work behind the prison gates. This anthology deepens this public awareness through scholarship on the television program and by exploring the real-world social, psychological, and legal issues female prisoners face.

Caged Women: Incarceration, Representation, & Media brings together scholars to consider both media representations as well as the social issues for female inmates alluded to in the Orange is the New Black series. The chapters address myriad issues including cultural representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality; social justice issues for transgender inmates; racial dynamics within female prisons in the; gender and female prison structures/policies; treatment of women in prison; re-incarcerated and previously incarcerated women; self and identity; gender, race, and sentencing; and reproduction and parenting for female inmates – all with a particular focus on cases and experiences in the U.S.

In doing so, Caged Women highlights the many areas impacting incarcerated women, going beyond the events shown in the Netflix series to address the wide array of social issues related to women in prison and in women’s prisons.

Shirley A. Jackson, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Black Studies Department at Portland State University. She is the editor of The Handbook of Race, Class, and Gender (Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014). She is a sociologist whose research focuses on race/ethnicity, gender, social movements, and inequality.

Laurie L. Gordy, Ph.D., is the Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology at Newbury College. Her research interests include gender, class, race in media, gender and sports, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.