This article contains mentions of sexual assault, violence, and suicide.

The many Orange Is the New Black deaths not only helped make it one of Netflix's first widely popular and critically acclaimed original shows, but also a heart-wrenching dramatic one. The highly influential series is inspired by a true story, adapted from Piper Kerman's memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, about her experiences at a minimum-security federal penitentiary. The series brings attention to America's broken prison system and the corrupt privatized facilities. It humanizes prisoners and paints them as lost, forgotten souls rather than dangerous criminals.

The show highlights that when a prisoner gets out, they are set up to fail on the outside and, more often than not, find themselves back in prison. While the show is mainly about Piper, it showcases many of her fellow inmates. Each episode in Orange Is the New Black's seven seasons features flashbacks of a different character's background, showing what led them to prison. The series' character-focused storytelling makes every death hit harder, as not every character made it to the end of Orange Is the New Black.

Tricia Miller - Season 1

Dies From A Drug Overdose

Tricia (Madeline Brewer) was one of the more lighthearted and endearing characters of Orange Is the New Black season 1, but she struggled with abandonment issues and drug addiction. She was one of the youngest inmates at Litchfield at age 19 and helped in the kitchen. Her issues became clear as early as episode 4 when she attempted to plant drugs in her girlfriend's bunk on the day of her release to be found by a correctional officer. Luckily, she was caught in the act and told, "This isn't love."

Tricia's backstory was explored in episode 10 when it was learned she ran away from home as a teenager to escape her rapist stepfather. She and a friend depended on stealing to survive, but she kept a notebook of everything she stole with the intent of one day paying her victims back.

During episode 9, it came to light that CO George "Pornstache" Mendez had been smuggling drugs into the prison and supplying them to Tricia. When his drug supply hit a snag, he coerced Red to help him smuggle drugs in to help Tricia with her withdrawal. Red refused and demanded Tricia turn herself in, resulting in an extended sentence and time in SHU.

Mendez covered up the overdose by framing it as a suicide by hanging.

Afterward, Tricia went to Red asking for forgiveness, but Red said she was done with her. Mendez strong-armed Tricia into helping him distribute the rest of the drugs, and she tragically ends up overdosing on them. Mendez covered up the overdose by framing it as a suicide by hanging. However, Red and Nikki knew the truth, and Tricia's death hit them both particularly hard since they felt responsible. The two then conspired to take down Mendez once in for all.

Yvonne "Vee" Parker - Season 2

Vee Was Run Over In An Attempted Escape

Vee (Lorraine Toussaint of Concrete Cowboys) arrived at Litchfield during Orange Is the New Black season 2 and quickly became a powerful figure among the inmates. She acted as the main antagonist of the season and an adversary for Red. Vee was a highly charismatic, intelligent, and manipulative sociopath who used people as pawns and discarded anyone in her way, no matter their loyalty. Upon arriving at Litchfield, she immediately saw Suzanne, a.k.a. "Crazy Eyes," as an easy target to manipulate. She took advantage of her desperation for love and used her for her criminal organization within the prison.

Vee was also a motherly figure to Taystee outside of prison and quickly drove a wedge between her and her best friend, Poussey, when Poussey pushed back against Vee's takeover of the Blacks. Vee also had Red brutally beaten when she refused to sell her "business." After all the vindictive backstabbing and pain she caused to beloved characters, Vee's death was one of the most satisfying. During an attempt to escape, she was run over by another escapee, Rosa, who afterward said, "Always so rude that one." Vee's corpse was then left on the side of the road.

Rosa Cisneros - Season 2

Rosa Possibly Died Of Cancer Off-Screen

One of the most enigmatic characters in Orange Is the New Black, Miss Rosa (Moon Knight's Barbara Rosenblat) was one of the first inmates Piper met upon arriving at Litchfield. When Red started starving Piper after she insulted her cooking, Rosa told her she had similar issues her first week in prison and had to brawl with the other inmates to settle things. "If I had won, I'd have been la hefa," she said. Suffice to say, it did little to calm Piper's nerves.

During season 2, the Rosa-focused episode finally gave a backstory to the mysterious character. In her youth, she was a bank robber but got reckless and was eventually caught and sent to a maximum-security prison. Presumably, after she was diagnosed with cancer, she was transferred to Litchfield. Rosa was not seen again after escaping, but it's assumed she died off-screen, finally succumbing to her terminal illness. However, there was some solace in knowing she died a free woman.

Poussey Washington - Season 4

CO Bayley Suffocated Poussey

Poussey (Samira Wiley) had one of the most devastating deaths of Orange Is the New Black. She was one of the more level-headed and intelligent inmates and loved joking around with her best friend, Taystee, who she was in love with. However, Taystee was heterosexual, and the feelings were not reciprocated. Poussey avoided violence and was one of the few to resist Vee's manipulation during season 2. In season 3, her mother ed away, and she fell into a dark depression and turned to alcoholism. With Taystee's help, though, she climbed out of her depression.

During season 4, the inmates initiated a peaceful protest in the cafeteria, calling for Captain Piscatella's resignation for his horrible treatment of many of the women at the prison. Suzanne became increasingly upset, and while Poussey was attempting to calm her down, she was thrown to the ground by CO Bayley. Due to improper training, Bayley accidentally suffocated Poussey to death, to the horror of everyone, especially Taystee, who sobbed uncontrollably, begging for her friend to wake up.

Poussey's death was egregiously handled, and little to no justice was served — a fact that festered among the inmates and was a large contributing factor to the start of a prison riot in season 5.

Thomas Humphrey - Season 5

The Inmates Teamed Up To Kill Him

CO Humphrey was the primary antagonist of Orange Is the New Black season 4. At first glance, he seemed like a decent guy and friendly coworker, but later he revealed he was a sadistic sociopath who enjoyed tormenting and abusing the inmates. At one point, he went as far as forcing Martiza to eat a dead mouse at gunpoint. During the prison riot, in the first episode of Orange Is the New Black season 5, a group of inmates surrounded a couple of COs, including Humphrey.

He had smuggled a gun into the prison, but when he reached for it, Martiza knocked it out of his hand, and Daya picked it up. The other inmates egged Daya on to shoot him, and as Humphrey pled for his life in Spanish, Daya shot him in the leg in annoyance. Gloria brought Humphrey to Sophia to stitch him up in an attempt to protect Daya from serving life in prison for murder. After initially refusing to be treated by a trans person, he eventually relented since she was his only chance of survival.

While telling the women about various methods of torture, Humphrey suffered a stroke in the second episode of the problematic fifth season.

Sophia brought him to a prison nurse who treated his wound and placed him in a hospital bed between Maureen and Suzanne. While telling the women about various methods of torture, Humphrey suffered a stroke in the second episode of the problematic season 5. Maureen revealed that she blew air into his IV to kill him, but it simply put him into a coma. However, his injuries and further abuse by other inmates eventually led to his death. His body was left in a broom closet to be later found by the CERT team.

Desi Piscatella - Season 5

One Of The CERT Officers Accidentally Killed Him

Captain Piscatella (Brad William Henke) was one of Orange Is the New Black's most notorious villains. He was a brute towards the inmates and extremely lazy at his job, which rubbed off on his COs. Most of his subordinates lacked the proper experience to carry out their duties effectively, which had a rippling effect on how the prison was run and how the inmates were treated.

The brutality and recklessness became so intolerable that the inmates staged a protest demanding his resignation, which resulted in Poussey's death. This further unionized the inmates against the guards, resulting in the riot. During Orange Is the New Black's season 5 cliffhanger, Piscatella was accidentally shot and killed by one of the CERT officers, which they covered up and pinned on Taystee, who was later convicted of his murder and sentenced to life.

Maureen Kukudio — Season 6

Maureen Died From Injuries In A Fight With Suzanne

Maureen (Emily Althaus) was a secondary antagonist in Orange Is the New Black season 4 but later became Suzanne's love interest. She was shy and had difficulty expressing her feelings, preferring to express herself through poetry. However, what started as a wholesome relationship soon turned toxic as she became increasingly irrational and erratic and started being manipulative towards Suzanne.

One of Maureen's darker moments arose when Suzanne humiliated her, so Maureen offered to fight Suzanne for the guard's amusement. While Suzanne was reluctant to fight back at first, she ended up beating Maureen severely. Due to a lack of medical attention during the riot that broke out shortly after the fight, Maureen died from her injuries off-screen during season 6.

Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett — Season 7

Tiffany Died By Suicide

Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning) was an antagonistic character for much of the earlier seasons of Orange Is the New Black and constantly caused problems for Piper and her friends. She was sent to prison for murdering a nurse at an abortion clinic who commented on her various abortions. This ironically resulted in her gaining a religious following due to the belief she killed the nurse for her anti-abortion views. Her religious fanatics went to her head, and she began believing she was a messenger of God — a fantasy that eventually got her thrown into the psychiatric ward.

She also seemed to mature in her views and had more comion with each ing season.

In later seasons, Pennsatucky became an oddly sympathetic character, primarily due to her repeated abuse by others. She also seemed to mature in her views and had more comion with each ing season. She had one of the most compelling character arcs, which made her death all the more heart-wrenching. During season 7 of Orange Is the New Black, she was determined to get her GED and learned she struggled to read her whole life because she had dyslexia.

When it came time to take her exam, her teacher failed to fill out the proper paperwork to allow her extended time to take the test. She was convinced she had failed, and life had cheated her once again. In her grief, she took her own life by overdose.

What was more devastating was that Pennsatucky had ed her test. She was later found by a distraught Taystee, who was sickened by seeing yet another life taken by the broken prison system. Pennsatucky was the last death of Orange Is The New Black and one of the most heartbreaking since it was completely avoidable and pointless — a tragedy that happens far too often in reality that the series didn't shy away from portraying.

Minor Orange Is The New Black Deaths

Daddy, Barbara, & Carol

There were other deaths of minor characters that all played a big role in Orange is the New Black and were important regardless of the character's importance. Two of these came in season 6, where Barbara Denning and her younger sister Carol Denning died. Barbara and Carol were the two main antagonists in the season. They murdered their younger sister, and they weren't much better when they ended up in prison. In prison, Barbara and Carol become rivals, with Barbara as the D-Block leader and Carol in C-Block.

The two declared war on each other and started the giant turf war between D- and C-Block, but it was all a ruse. They hid together when the war was about to start, and they planned to sneak out and kill Frieda, who had previously double-crossed them both in events before the series began. However, the turf war never started and the inmates just played a kickball game. The two sisters think the other double-crossed each other, and they start a fight where they kill each other, with Barbara getting her throat slit and Carol getting shanked in the back.

In season 7, there was one more minor death when Dominga "Daddy" Duarte died. Throughout the show, Daddy is mostly a kind person to anyone she likes, and she serves as Barb's right hand in the prison. She also likes Daya and has an affinity for her from the moment she arrives which sadly leads to her downfall. When she tells Daya that she will sleep with whoever she needs to so she can remain strong in the drug game, Daya poisons her. It could've been an accident, but it was still a tragic Orange is the New Black death.

Which Deaths On Orange Is The New Black Were The Most Impactful?

Poussey, Pennsatucky, & Tricia

The two most impactful deaths on Orange is the New Black are those of heavy-hitters Poussey Washington and Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett. Poussey's death was easily the one that had the most to do with future storylines and the fates of other characters. Poussey's death caused many bad things to happen that her simple existence could have prevented, like the riot. Her death helped the show become so intense in later seasons, and without it, nothing would have meant quite as much.

This moment in Orange is the New Black shows how this prison creates a sense of helplessness in the women there.

Pennsatucky's death by suicide was just a challenging moment to accept since she had ed her GED test, but a simple mistake on her teacher's part led her to give up on life. This moment in Orange is the New Black shows how this prison creates a sense of helplessness in the women there.

However, outside of these two women, two other deaths had a significant impact on viewers at home. Tricia struggled to make it and was trying to get clean and improve her life. These facts made her overdose death so hard to take and showed how bad Mendez was, especially when she made it look like a suicide, an Orange is the New Black end that Truicia never deserved.