[4][5] In 1993, Kerman became romantically involved with Catherine Cleary Wolters, a heroin dealer affiliated with an alleged Nigerian drug kingpin.

In Kerman's memoir, Wolters is referred to as Nora Janson, and she inspired the character Alex Vause, portrayed by Laura Prepon in the television series Orange Is the New Black.

A television adaptation of the same name created by Jenji Kohan, the Emmy award-winning creator of Weeds, premiered on July 11, 2013, on Netflix and aired for seven seasons.

[10][11] Kerman serves on the board of the Women's Prison Association and is frequently invited to speak to students of creative writing, criminology, gender and women's studies law, and sociology, and to groups, like the American Correctional Association's Disproportionate Minority Confinement Task Force, federal probation officers, public defenders, justice reform advocates and volunteers, book club and formerly and currently incarcerated people.

[16] In 2019, she appeared as a guest in the last episode of Orange Is the New Black in the last scene in the Ohio prison, when Piper visited Alex.

Kerman sat two seats to the left of Alex as a convict visited by her husband (in real life).