Piper Eressea Kerman is an American author who was indicted in 1998, on charges of feloniousmoney-laundering activities, and sentenced to 15 months' detention in a federal correctional facility, of which she eventually served 13 months. Her memoir of her prison experiences, , was adapted into the critically acclaimed Netflix original comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. Since leaving prison, Kerman has spoken widely about women in prison and about her own experiences there. She now works as a communication strategist for non-profit organizations.
Kerman's best-selling memoir about her experiences in prison, , was published by Spiegel & Grau on April 6, 2010. A television adaptation of the same name created by Jenji Kohan, the Emmy award-winning creator of Weeds, premiered on July 11, 2013, on Netflix and aired for seven seasons. Kerman's character in the series is played by Taylor Schilling. Orange is the New Black has received critical acclaim and won four Emmy Awards. Kerman serves on the board of the Women's Prison Association and is frequently invited to speak to students of creative writing, criminology, gender and women's studies law, and sociology, and to groups, like the American Correctional Association's Disproportionate Minority Confinement Task Force, federal probation officers, public defenders, justice reform advocates and volunteers, book club and formerly and currently incarcerated people. On February 10, 2014, Kerman received the 2014 Justice Trailblazer Award from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Center on Media, Crime & Justice. On February 25, 2014, Kerman testified at a hearing on "Reassessing Solitary Confinement" before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights chaired by Assistant Majority LeaderDick Durbin. On August 4, 2015, Kerman testified at a hearing on "Oversight of the Bureau of Prisons: First-Hand Accounts of Challenges Facing the Federal Prison System" before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Ron Johnson. Since 2015, Kerman has worked as a communications strategist for nonprofits. Since her prison sentence, Kerman has spoken publicly many times on behalf of women in corrections and about her experience. In 2019, she appeared as a guest in the last episode of Orange Is The New Black in the last scene in the Ohio prison, when Piper visited Alex. Kerman sat two seats to the left of Alex as a convict visited by her husband. She makes a cameo appearance in the shows opening credits as the convict who blinks.
