Major ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Characters Granted Early Release

While season 6 of Netflix‘s Orange Is the New Black saw some fan-favorite characters have their sentences lengthened, three other inmates were able to walk out of the prison doors after being granted early release.

Spoilers for OITNB season 6 are ahead.

Season 6 of Netflix’s popular original series Orange Is the New Black dealt heavy sentences for some of Litchfield’s inmates following the riots in season 5, but for others, the bus to maximum security was the end of the line and the gate to early release.

After Linda Ferguson, newly promoted as MCC’s Vice President after threatening to sue MCC for the trauma she went through in season 5, introduces a new easily manipulated scoring system that ranks the inmates, she attempts to downsize the company’s PR nightmare by ordering the release of 25 inmates. By the end of the season, fans watch as Piper Chapman, Sophia Burset, and Blanca Flores shed their jumpsuits and handcuffs and take their first steps as free women.

While Piper and Sophia – who is granted early release after making a deal with MCC not to talk about the inhumane treatment she underwent in exchange for hush money and a shortened sentence – walk free, Blanca’s fate is not as lucky. As her husband Diablo waits outside with flowers, Blanca steps out of Litchfield only to be met by ICE agents, who detain her and several other inmates.

It is not yet known what is in store for Blanca in season 7, or if she will be in the season at all, but it currently looks as though stricter immigration laws will lead to her being deported as her husband, Diablo, remains in the United States under threat of the same fate. It is also possible that fans will see her in MCC’s immigrant detention center, which Linda revealed would be opening just moments before the three inmates were released.

Meanwhile, the future remains open for Piper, who was only released when CO Hopper went into the scoring system and lowered her number. As the final episode came to a close, her brother Cal asks “So, what are you gonna do now?”

It is possible that Piper, who celebrated her last day as an inmate with a prison wedding to Alex, could go on to write the memoir she mentioned multiple times throughout the season, which would be fitting considering Orange Is the New Black is based on Piper Kerman’s 2010 memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison.

Ultimately, fans will have to wait until season 7, which does not yet have a premiere date, to find out what happens to Piper, Sophia, and Blanca.

Seasons 1-6 of Orange Is the New Black are available for streaming on Netflix.