Everyone does a little experimenting in their twenties. After college, you just want adventure, so you might do some traveling, or have a same-sex fling, or go dancing all night long. Or, you know, you might get involved in a lesbian drug-smuggling ring, helping move huge quantities of cash across European borders. 

Ah, your twenties.

Piper Kerman did all of the above, and then she left the wild life behind and moved on with a more "respectable" (read: boring) life. She married a man (yawn) and moved to New York City. Then, one day, the feds knocked on her door. Remember that money she was laundering in Europe? Well, that was a federal crime, so now she's facing eighteen months in prison.

Unlike the over 200,000 other women in prison, who struggle to rebuild their lives after doing time, Kerman returns to New York and her amazing husband, Larry, who is most definitely not Jason Biggs, and writes a book about her experience. That book is Orange is the New Black.

Published in 2010, Kerman is now an activist for criminal justice reform, especially for women's prisons. The book inspired Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds, to create the super successful Netflix show of the same name in 2013, starring Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Laverne Cox, Kate Mulgrew, Natasha Lyonne, and dozens of other talented actresses (oh, and Jason Biggs).

Of course, the show is a little dramatic compared to the true story, but you might be surprised to find out just how many of the events and characters on the show are pulled straight from Kerman's book. 

So pause the Netflix for a few hours and read the true story of one woman's year in prison.

So some bougie blond lady went to prison. Who cares? 

You might think that none of this affects you, but the United States has the largest prison population in the world. The U.S. is home to five percent of the total population of people on the planet, but it has twenty-five percent of the world's prison population. With one in thirty-one adults a part of the correctional system in some way, chances are you know someone who has been in prison—whether they ever admit it to you or not.

Orange is the New Black intends to break down the us vs. them dynamic between felons and non-felons. Most of them, especially the women in prison, are mothers. They have families of their own. They're not that different from people who haven't been behind bars. (Felons! They're just like us!) 

Oh, just one thing: these folks have committed crimes. So are they just like us?

You tell us.