OITNB S4 E5 “We’ll Always Have Baltimore” is about:

* Maritza’s background as a short-con woman and then as a high-end car thief. We also see how her skills as a con artist help her navigate her job driving the CO’s to and from work and high-pressure situations.

* Missing cast members. This is one of the few episodes that contains zero appearances by Alex Vause and zero appearances by Red.

* Taystee getting access to the internet while Caputo is away at “Correticon” with Linda from purchasing. Taystee uses this unique opportunity to look up Celebrity News as well as to try to find information on her friends.

In case you ever are wondering (and I have never searched for Easter Eggs), Caputo’s password is SideboobRulez of SideboobRulz (wasn’t being careful writing that one donw at the time).

She finds stories in the tabloids about Judy King, with pictures of her in the prison garden, which explains what the drone that was driving Lolly crazy was doing at Litchfield.

* The commissary running out of sanitary products for women as the result of the overcrowding of Litchfield by MCC.

* Piscatella explaining his philosophies on running a prison including an embrace of broken windows policing and a statement that prisoners don’t have any expectation of civil rights and that when their civil rights are violated that it is “on them” for doing something illegal.

* Experiencing the unique pleasure of seeing what prison industry conventions are like. Nothing like hobnobbing with your industry partners in making people miserable.

Caputo and Linda hear a keynote address that suggests that the best thing prison administrators can do for prisoners is find ways to keep them busy (not help them find a better way of life etc.). Linda gives a speech where she is talking about ways to cut costs at the expense of prisoners until she is interrupted by Danny Pearson who has now become a prisoner rights advocate (after quitting his job at MCC).

* Discussions and planning between Morello and Suzanne about sex, Suzanne’s “relationship” with Maureen, and the need to catch the “shower pooper.”

* Piper’s ongoing stupid war against the Dominicans which enters a new phase as she rats the Dominicans out to Piscatella and starts to organize an anti-gang violence group which quickly degenerates into a rally for white power (yikes).

The Dignity For Incarcerated Women Act

As I have been mentioning for months now, this tampon and feminine product issue is a real problem in women’s prisons throughout the United States (and at both the State and Federal level).

In fact, I have been working with Senator Stabenow’s office to get answers from the Bureau of Prisons in regards to the free provision of sanitary products for women for a few months now.

In the meantime, I have been asking my readers to contact their Congresspeople and Senators to get them to support the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act” which would ensure that women in Federal prisons had free access to sanitary products. The Bill also ensures, among other things, that pregnant women prisoners are not shackled or kept in solitary confinement.