Piper Kerman, author of the book turned epically popular T.V. show: "Orange is the New Black," recently criticized the practice of solitary confinement in an interview with the Huffington Post.

Kerman recommended higher levels of scrutiny over all BOP (federal Bureau of Prisons) operations, noting that many incursions on human rights are able to take place due to the lack of scrutiny of the organization.

The new season of "Orange is the New Black," which has heightened awareness among viewers as to some of the heinous conditions of those embroiled in the U.S. penal system, starts a new season June 16^th. Cast regulars and fan favorites will be returning to expand on the stories of the female prison inmates where main character Piper Chapman, based loosely on Kerman, is incarcerated.

Kerman has a few things to say when it comes to the issue of the financial freedom of the BOP, which she believes may be at the root of the lack of adequate supervision of some federal prisons policies:

"It is often hard to hold corrections systems accountable and it is particularly hard to hold the BOP accountable for many reasons, but one of the reasons is that the BOP has much deeper pockets than state correctional systems often do and their budgets are in some respects far less scrutinized than state budgets are."

Kerman was incarcerated for a year when she fulfilled her sentence for money laundering, but during that time she never experienced solitary confinement. Still, she feels that it is an extreme measure for penalizing prisoners which is overused enormously:

"It would be hard to overstate how pervasive the use of solitary is against not just serious transgressions but against very minor infractions, certainly in the BOP in my experience and my observation.

"I know many, many women who have spent time in the SHU, many women who have spent potentially short times in the SHU for very minor infractions - something like having very low-level contraband, something like refusing a direct order from a corrections office - that can easy land you in the SHU for terms of 30 days and sometimes longer."

Kerman has testified before the Senate about what can be done to reduce the highly dramatic conventions currently in use.