Tricia Miller (portrayed by Madeline Brewer) or “powder,” as Mendez calls her, takes one of the biggest falls as a direct result of a correctional officer’s need to subjugate and take advantage of the inmates. We learn that Miller was homeless and stole in order to sustain herself; however, she kept a log book with everything she ever took with intentions of paying the money back to everywhere she owed before she died. Caputo reveals that she was raped by her stepfather (likely why she ran away from home), making her a “trailer park allstar.”
However, her drug addiction forces her into business with George “Pornstache” Mendez, who screws her over in a deal. He leads her to believe that sexual favors would pay her drug debt to him; however, when Mendez changes the terms and tells her to get rid of the rest of the pills, she feels pressured, for she is unable to do so.
On top of the stress imposed by Mendez, she becomes estranged from her girlfriend, Mercy, who was once involved with Big Boo. Now on the outside, Mercy has not kept contact with Miller, and she suffers from rejection and abandonment. Moreover, when Red discovers that she is going into detox, Red disowns Miller because this is her third strike. The added disappointment from this rejection is yet another pressure that eventually leads to Miller’s demise.
While locked in a supply closet by Pornstache, she takes the pills in attempt to “get rid of them” and overdoses. “When I leave this world,” Tricia says, “I ain’t owing nobody;” however, she is the borrower, who is “slave to the lender.”
When she died, she had four years left of her sentence.
Literary Litchfield 