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The reasons they are in prison: a summary (help wanted!)

posted 8 years ago by Dory_Darko
72 replies | jump to latest

One of the more interesting aspects of OITNB, is the fact that we’re never really specifically told what these women did that earned them a one-way ticket to Litchfield. Some crimes we know about, some are hinted at, and many, at this point, are still a complete mystery.

So I thought we could make a list. Because let’s face it: when it comes to inmates, we’re all more than a little bit curious… I also hope some of you can help me fill in the gaps. Some of these I’m really not sure about, or maybe I missed something? So any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here’s what we know for a fact:
Piper: smuggled drug money across the border.
Alex: drug trafficking.
Sophia: credit card fraude.
Gloria Mendoza: income (tax) fraude.
Lorna Morello: stalking.
Pennsatucky: killed the abortion clinic lady with a shotgun.
Crazy Eyes: (as we just found out) is responsible for the kidnapping and death of a young boy.
Poussey: (as we also just found out) “possession of illegal substances with intent to sell – less than 15 grams”.
Flaca: inadvertently responsible for her classmate’s suicide.
Maritza Ramos: grand theft auto on a high-class level.
Aleida Diaz: drug manufacturing and dealing.
Yoga Jones: accidentally shot and killed an 8-year-old boy (thinking he was a deer…)
Sister Jane Ingalls: was apparently incarcerated because of some kind of protest? (somebody help me here because I never got this…)
Frieda: 4 counts of murder in a single year. Allowed to “retire” in Litchfield because of age and good behavior.
Chang: apparently was some kind of major crime mogul back in her day…
Judy King (a.k.a. Martha Stewart): tax evasion/fraude.
Red: something really big to do with the Russian mob. And thanks to Pictatella we now know ‘they’ found 5 bodies in her freezer…

Here’s what we had to read between the lines:
Nicky: not entirely sure, but I can only assume it has something to do with drugs.
Maria Ruiz: something to do with drugs?
Leanne Taylor: also something with drugs…
Angie Rice: DEFINITELY drugs. Even though her story has not been told yet.

And here’s what we DON’T know (or I wasn’t paying attention):
Daya: ??
Big Boo: ??
Taystee: ??
Cindy: ??
Janae: ??
Norma: Ok, we know that she pushed the creepy cult-guy off a cliff, but there were NO witnesses around when it happened and as far as the police was concerned, he could have just as easily jumped or slipped. So I don’t get it.
Blanca Flores: ??
Brook Soso: ??
Anita DeMarco: I have a feeling it was disclosed, but I missed it?
Lolly Whitehill: ??

These are what I consider to be the most important characters, let’s leave the rest for now. Thanks to everyone who’s still reading this and taking the time to reply!

[–] zzsnoozincat 8 years ago

I must not have been paying attention (or dozed off during the episode). I knew that Suzanne kidnapped the young boy but I didn't know that she killed him. I know she brought him home because she wanted to play with him and be her friend....and then he called his father.

[–] trudat20 8 years ago

She didn't actually kill him. He was trying to escape via the fire escape and fell backwards while he was trying to evade CE who coming towards him.

~Silence is Golden and Duct tape is Silver~

[–] zzsnoozincat 8 years ago

Ohhhhh....now I remember. I watched that episode late at night so I totally forgot that part.

[–] worldserieschamps1997 8 years ago

She didn't kill him per se, but she was directly responsible for his death.

[–] TequilaMockingbird5150 7 years ago

Nm

The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett

[–] lisaholland-78697 8 years ago

On the OITNB wiki then it says....

Taystee / Herion trafficking (then got released)
Parole violation.

Daya / it just says her crime was drug related.

Big Boo / presumably felony theft/fraud

Cindy / Felony theft

Janae / armed robbery

Anita / unknown

Soso / political protest

Lolly / aggravated assault on a police officer
(presumed)

Blanca / elder abuse (presumed)

Norma / murder (I guess from when she pushed that guy off that cliff)

[–] Dory_Darko 8 years ago

Thanks for clearing it up! Also, I had no idea there was an OITNB wikia... Thanks so much for pointing it out, it's super helpful! 

[–] zzsnoozincat 8 years ago

Vee was Taystee's adoptive mother. Pretty sure Taystee was arrested as part of Vee's drug network.

[–] mwmitch2 8 years ago

That's what I was thinking. She got released in Season 1, but ended up breaking parole (I think) and ended back up in prison.

[–] lisaholland-78697 8 years ago

Leanne / drug possession

Maria / unknown

Nicky / breaking and entering
possession of heroin

Angie / unknown (likely drug related)

[–] stabiljka (37) 3 years ago

Actually Maria Ruiz is shown to be arrested as she was a high street shop manager and sold counterfeit jeans.

[–] BelleStar82 8 years ago

Cindy was a TSA agent and stole things from people's luggage. Not just snacks and trinkets, but iPads.

Lolly didn't actually do anything wrong. She was arrested because they thought she had a weapon (her calming jingle stick); they thought she was going to assault the police officer.

[–] Cosima324 8 years ago

Excellent memory!

"This organism and derivative genetic material is restricted intellectual property."

[–] Robb_Banks 8 years ago

I streamed season 4 when it came out and I missed episode 6 somehow. I just watched it this morning and they did Lolly wrong.

[–] Dory_Darko 8 years ago

Excellent! I completely forgot about Cindy, thank you!

I always thought Lolly's incarceration was wrong for so many reasons...
Which raises another interesting point: how many of these women actually deserve to be in prison? Lolly, Sister Ingalls, Soso, Sophia, etc... They're not criminals by any reasonable stretch of the imagination.
Especially the nun and Soso. I can not for the life of me understand why protesting is punishable by law to the degree of prison sentencing. A fine maybe? Community service even? Sure. But PRISON?! I thought the USA was a free country where protesting is covered by the first amendment?

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

Sophia ripped off bank and credit card information while she was a firefighter. She used the credit cards to help pay family expenses and the bank accounts to pay for her surgery. She did it multiple times. Her surgery was $80K. That's a criminal in my book.

[–] wright1212 8 years ago

The nun was sentenced for trespassing on federal property. They make nuclear weapons so it's considered a major crime to trepass. Most likely they tacked on conspiracy just because of where she was.

[–] Doc80 8 years ago

That's why they are in minimum security prison instead of max.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

Frieda: is not in for murder but instead deadly felonious assault. She cut off her husbands junk. She was never arrested for the murders.

Gloria: is in for SNAP (food stamp fraud).

Sister Ingalls: was arrested for protesting at a nuclear power plant.

Chang: For loansharking and bookmaking.

Lorna: stalking and credit card/computer fraud.

Red: we found out about early on. She was caught with dead bodies in the freezer because the Russian Mob blackmailed her and her husband into storing them.

Soso: also for protesting. She lived in a tree and refused to come down when the Federal land was being cut down.

Anita we haven't been told yet.

[–] Dory_Darko 8 years ago

Thank you for your additions! Very helpful.

I somehow missed the thing about the bodies in Red's freezer being revealed early on. I found Red's storyline kind of hard to follow anyway, I mostly remember the tit punch.  Other than that the details are kind of vague.

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

You're very welcome. The "tit punch" was the reason she had to store the bodies in her freezer...to "defray" the cost of the mafioso chiefs' wife's boob which he determined was $50K for one boob replacement. I guess he thought a lot of his wife's booby lol

[–] eclipsed-bythe-moon 8 years ago

I'm confused. We definitely saw them get involved with the mob after the tit punch. Later we see a flashback that implies Red takes on a stronger role in the mob. She advises them on some business and later her husband finds her talking with them without his knowledge or presence. Next we hear about the bodies.

I don't recall any confirmation that the bodies were being stored to pay off for the wife's busted tit. For all we know she killed them herself.

Her role in the murder of the hit man could allude to her role in those murders. Helping to hide them out of loyalty or something.

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

There was a scene where Red's husband informs her that the Russian Mafia boss was demanding $50K in restitution for damaging his wife's boob. They didn't have the cash so they were blackmailed into storing the dead bodies. They actually showed the body parts being carried into the freezer. And yes, Red did begin to advise the Mafia boss on how to expand his business. It started with the "box of candy" scene. But her role was nothing more than occasional advise.

Episodes: Tit Punch, Moscow Mule, People Person.

People person is where the confusion comes in "It is believed by some that that she went to prison for murder, due to it being revealed in "People Persons" that police found five bodies in Red's freezer when they searched her house. However, this is likely due to the Resnikovs being forced by Ganya to store the body parts of mafia victims". ~Wiki~ Red went to prison for Organized Crime not murder.

[–] eclipsed-bythe-moon 8 years ago

Thanks for clarifying.

[–] stabiljka (37) 3 years ago

True, she was not a lifer before the Piscatella catastrophe.

[–] danny_b_va 8 years ago

Even I have been insulted for saying it I still think Flaca went down for counterfeit dresses. She was put on making panties without taking the test and the expression on her face when she sat down at the sewing machine.

Droid please.

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

She is in Litchfield for selling fake drug that she made using paper and water (LSD), that caused the death of a High School classmate. Her mother was a seamstress so perhaps that's where Flacca learned how to sew. With that being said, how the heck did she end up in a Federal prison? What quantity of a fake drug could she have made to end up there? Her backstory is one that makes no sense.

[–] eclipsed-bythe-moon 8 years ago

Looked like her family was poor. She doesn't deserve jail time much less federal prison. Likely couldn't afford a decent lawyer.

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

I agree. It's more than likely she had a public defender and took a plea rather than go to trial and possibly be found guilty under New York's tough mandatory drug sentencing laws. She doesn't belong in a Federal prison.

[–] Tufflaw 8 years ago

What do New York's laws have to do with it? Federal prison means she was convicted of violating Federal law, which is the same in every state.

[–] tmarrra-968-353634 8 years ago

18 U.S. Code § 2320 - Trafficking in counterfeit goods or services
(2) Serious bodily injury or death.—
(A)Serious bodily injury.—
Whoever knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause serious bodily injury from conduct in violation of subsection (a), if an individual, shall be fined not more than $5,000,000 or imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both, and if other than an individual, shall be fined not more than $15,000,000.
(B)Death.—
Whoever knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause death from conduct in violation of subsection (a), if an individual, shall be fined not more than $5,000,000 or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, and if other than an individual, shall be fined not more than $15,000,000.

Not sure what would be the difference in a state or federal charge, but I'm guessing that the death would figure in big time. If no one had died, it may have stayed at the state level. Quite honestly, a prisoner would much rather be at a federal camp than a state prison. No one needs to feel bad for Flaca.
Lolly is the one who really got screwed. I hope that OITNB will come back to her story. It's very sad that our mentally ill end up in jails and prisons, instead of getting the help they need through a mental health facility.

[–] amberalso 8 years ago

If Flaca was in high school when she committed her offense, then how would she end up in a federal prison?

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

Being in high school and being in federal prison are not mutually exclusive. She was obviously tried as an adult instead of being tried in juvenile court. In the real world she would be in a State prison.

[–] trixie-k-88 8 years ago

If she was a senior in high school she might very well have been 18 years old. It doesn't matter if you're still in high school, if you're 18 you're an adult.

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

Yes, that's what I said being in high school and being in Federal prison are not mutually exclusive.. In the US some 15 year olds' are tried as adults, also.

[–] ohiokat-849-534794 8 years ago

She's likely there because her fake drug resulted in a death. Its been a while since I saw that episode but didn't the girl think she could fly and jumped off a building?
The fake drug had a placebo effect on her so it caused her death. Makes Flacca responsible for her death.

[–] eclipsed-bythe-moon 8 years ago

It was a boy but yes that's what happened.

[–] eclipsed-bythe-moon 8 years ago

He was suicidal though I don't remember if he thought he could fly!

[–] beancrisp (1418) 3 years ago

FACT: LSD does not make people think they can fly. Prove me wrong.

[–] jhkhavi 8 years ago

I have seen 2 people in my life go down hard for that same crime. If you pretend to sell drugs , you go down for selling drugs regardless if you had any actual drugs, the crime is the same. She probably got trafficking of LSD which is a HUGE offense.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

Not that this is proof of the crime(s) for which she was ultimately convicted - particularly since the jumper hadn't yet died at the time - but Flaca was arrested for fraud and endangerment. Maybe "endangerment" as she'd been told the guy had been depressed? I thought it would be for selling/"manufacturing" a large quantity of LSD; its having been fake wouldn't matter. (I'm only partway through S3, though, so maybe something else is revealed.) A sufficient amount of drugs makes it federal.

As for the sewing, she ridiculed her mother for it and refused to "degrade" herself by learning how to do so. Her new job was the ultimate karma.

[–] deborahkerr1992 8 years ago

Nicky is guilty of grand auto theft. Remember she stole the taxi driver car and crashed it so that she could score heroin.

[–] amberalso 8 years ago

Yes, but a later scene showed that she wasn't arrested in the taxi with her 'friends'...she took money out of her mother's wallet to 'bail' her friends out of jail, but then was seen talking to her friend on the phone complaining that she couldn't get their bail money. She then scored more drugs with the cash she took from her mother.

[–] beantownratt 8 years ago

She was arrested in the cab with her friends (she was driving and caused the accident) but her mother bailed her out and her friends couldn't make bail. That is also the scene where she planned the antique/rare book burglary that she was also charged with.