<P> Claudette "Miss Claudette" Pelage (played by Michelle Hurst)--Miss Claudette is a very strict and feared inmate at the prison, she is often grumpy and holds her bunk - mates to very high standards . Her mysterious origins and fearsome reputation bred numerous legends, with some inmates humorously noting they never see her in the bathrooms . When Piper is assigned to share a cubicle with her, she reacts rudely due to her obsession with cleanliness and dislike of the messy situations Piper brings with her, but softens to her over time . It is later shown that Miss Claudette was inducted into forced child labor and sent to the United States from an unknown French - speaking country (possibly Haiti) to pay off a familial debt . She was brought to America by a boy called Jean Baptiste whom she develops a close friendship and later falls in love . Years later she ran her own illegal cleaning service using similar child labor . She kills a customer who beat and abused one of her cleaning girls, which is the basis for the rumor amongst the prisoners that she is in prison for murder . It is not clear if she was convicted for her business, the killing, or both . She also becomes heartbroken after Baptiste marries another woman . </P> <P> Miss Claudette never gets mail, has not received a visitor in a decade of being incarcerated, and initially refuses help with her case as she has nothing to live for outside . However, when she receives a letter from Baptiste (whose wife has since died) she decides to appeal her conviction . Initially optimistic, her appeal is denied, and in a fit of anger she nearly strangles a prison guard in grief, and is immediately transferred to a maximum security prison with an extended sentence . She does not reappear in subsequent seasons . </P> <P> Galina "Red" Reznikov (played by Kate Mulgrew)--Red is a Russian inmate who runs the prison's kitchen as the master chef and is the behind - the - scenes leader of the prison's (white) population . She gets her name from both her ginger hair and her Russian heritage . In her earlier life, she and her husband had migrated from Russia and ran a struggling restaurant in Queens, eventually getting involved with the Russian mafia bosses who frequented their establishment . Red angered the mob bosses by punching one of their wives in the chest (rupturing a breast implant) after being excluded by their group, but later impressed the same boss by offering sound advice that allowed her to swiftly climb the ranks of the organization . Red is feared and respected by most of the prisoners, and has a lot of influence with Healy . Out of all of the girls in her group, she is closest to Nicky, and loves her as if she were her own daughter . She is always accompanied by Norma and Gina, who cater to her needs and work with her in the kitchen . Red runs a smuggling business out of her kitchen, using a food company she helped the Russian mafia set up, but refuses to import drugs of any kind . She actively uses her resources to help some of the inmates overcome drug addictions, although they have only "two strikes" before she abandons them because "Russians don't play baseball ." When Mendez begins to force her to use her connections to bring in drugs, she hatches a plan to have him removed from the prison . </P> <P> Red is initially pleasant to Piper until she unknowingly insults her cooking, and in response Red punishes her by starvation . Piper eventually repairs their relationship by making a lotion to help soothe Red's injured back . Red also has an odd obsession with a chicken that is allegedly seen on the prison grounds from time to time, as she wants to cook "real food" and also wants to absorb its "power ." Towards the end of the first season, she is decommissioned from the kitchen by Caputo after he discovers Mendez's drug smuggling operation, which is blamed on Red . Caputo assigns Gloria as the new master chef, and the kitchen is then run by the Latina inmates . In an attempt to take Gloria and her "girls" out of the kitchen, Red sabotaged one of the ovens, causing Gina to get injured, thus straining her relationship with her friends severely . Red eventually becomes Piper's new roommate and befriends her, while at the same time she attempts to come to terms with her loss of friends and status, in the process befriending the "Golden Girls"--the older women in the prison . </P>

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