Virginia "Ginger" Copeland is a CO at Litchfield Penitentiary Maximum Security. She is portrayed by Shawna Hamic.
Personality[]
Virginia attempts to live a life of healing and calmness. She often reads self-help guides to live a better life, and refrains from using profanity, swapping her swear words in for alternatives such as "shit" with "poop" and "fuck" with "freight train". Copeland is one of the nicer max guards, she is more empathetic and refrains from using violence. Her calm and patient mind helps her out. She cares about everyone seemingly, saying she's happy for Hopper having a girlfriend and ignoring the fact that her daughter killed a guard. Her weakness is her competitiveness however, she takes Fantasy Inmate very seriously. Copeland also is a very immoral character. She goes to great lengths to instigate between the inmates, seen when she makes Piper start a fight with Maria and when she illegally puts Barbara and Carol Denning in the same Administrative Segregation cell. Alvarez also remarks several times that she often cheats and/or lies to get more points in Fantasy Inmate, further showing her immorality.
Physical Appearance[]
Virginia is an obese woman, pale, with red cheeks and a large chin. She has red hair and often wears it in a bun.
Biography[]
Season Six[]
She is first seen in Suzanne’s last fantasy, where she dresses up as a guard from Emerald City from the Wizard Of Oz. She then takes her to the interrogation, but when Suzanne looks at Frieda, who had slit both of her arms, Virginia calls it in for attempted suicide. She then later tells the news to Alvarez but she insists on handling in for Fantasy Inmate, and suicide is worth 14 points but attempted suicide is worth 7. She goes on to say that this is their chance to get to know the Litchfield inmates and suggests that she listens in on the phone calls, but Alvarez wants to listen in instead because he can share intel. Virginia ends up winning a rock-paper-scissors match between them. She sends Hellman to get Nicky, Gloria, Piper, and Taystee, but when Taystee refuses, Hellman beats her and tells Virginia that she came at him and didn’t want to call, so Virginia asks for Cindy. She then listens in on their calls and takes down notes. (“Who Knows Better Than I”)
Copeland arrives outside Cindy's AdSeg cell, and tells her it is time for excercise. Copeland then tells Cindy to be more proactive after Cindy tries to hide her note for Taystee under her foot. Later, Copeland tells Dayanara and Gloria they're going to GenPop, but misses out Blanca and Maria. She transfers both into their new dorms. ("Shitstorm Coming")
Copeland takes Frieda back from her interrogation. Frieda tells Copeland she can walk on her own. Copeland allows her to do so, until she drops to her knees to pick up a piece of paper Cindy wrote on to warn Taystee that Piscatella died. Copeland picks Frieda back up and puts her back in AdSeg. in her cell, Copeland tells Frieda to write a list of things she is grateful for. Frieda requets a pen and paper from Copeland to do so. Copeland reluctantly hands Frieda a piece of paper and a felt-tip pen to Frieda. ("Look Out for Number One")
Copeland makes Alex and Piper stop kissing when Alex arrives. ("I'm the Talking Ass")
One evening, Copeland and Alvarez meet Joel Luschek, Artesian McCullough, Stefavonic, Ryder Blake and Rick Hopper to decide on players for fantasy inmate. Together, they decide to make Luschek the new comissioner for fantasy inmate, despite Alvarez' discomfort. Copeland picks Piper. The next day, Copeland and Alvarez discuss their poitns so far for fantasy inmate. Copeland notices Piper, and approaches her. Copeland shows Piper her missing tooth, she attempts to grab it, but Copeland retrieves her hand, and convinces her to start on Maria Ruiz. Piper does so reluctantly. McCullough and Copeland step in and break up the "fight." She and Alvarez take Piper away. Later, Copeland, Hellman and Alvarez take several inmates back to their blocks after Cathy plays a prank. In the kitchen, Copeland opens a box of cheese and is scared by a rat, causing the inmate staff to freak out. ("Mischief Mischief")
Alvarez and Copeland witness Badison's group defecate over D-Block's uniform. Alvarez feels guilty and says to Copeland to stop them as he may lose players for fantasy inmate. However, Copeland tells Alvarez that a retalliation may result in many more points being generated. ("State of the Uterus")
Piper and Alex Vause look around for inmates to recruit into kickball. Copeland and Ryder Blake notice Piper approach Carol Denning. Excited, expecting a fight, Copeland grabs Blake and watches on. Copeland tells Blake to keep faith with fantasy inmate. ("Break the String")
Copeland is seen taking Dayanara Diaz into the guards' room so she may clean it (and collect the oxycontin). Later, Copeland makes a chocolate nutritional milkshake. She and Alvarez discuss the ingredients of the milkshake. Rick Hopper tells her to throw the empty tub into the bin. He instead, does it himself, and discovers the oxycontin while Copeland commends him for his relationship with Aleida Diaz, and goes home. ("Chocolate Chip Nookie")
Before an attack on Carol and Red, Nicky attempts to warn Red by kicking a secret message into the hair salon where they are. Instead, Copeland notices it, and shows CO Jarod Young. Copeland shrugs, and says that the message may be fake, and should see how it plays out so she may gain points in fantasy inmate. Young tells Copeland to take Carol to AdSeg. Later, while C-Block practice for kickball, Copeland and Alvarez watch onwards. Copeland complains about her bad results from fantasy inmate. During practice, Madison Murphy punches Alana Dwight in the nose, and fakes an injury herself. Badison declares kickball should be revoked as it is way too dangerous. Copeland disagrees for the sake of fantasy inmate, and tells her it will be kept. ("Well This Took a Dark Turn")
After Carol and Barb are put into AdSeg together, Copeland draws a chair up outside their cell to witness anything that may break out between the two. Alvarez explains that what she is doing is unfair, and tells her to stop. Alvarez threatens to ban Copeland if she doesn't let the two out. Reluctantly, Copeland does so. Later, Copeland tells D-Block that auditions for PolyCon's corporate video are commencing. In the queue for this which Copeland monitors, Piper Chapman approaches her and reveals to her that Badison is attempting to give Chapman a longer sentence, and requests to be moved back into AdSeg. Instead, Copeland tells Piper to stop living in fear, and confront Badison. ("Double Trouble")
Copeland and Alvarez walk down the hallway together and discover that Carol and Barbara Denning have died at the hands of eath other. Virginia shows remorse briefly until Alvarez points out double points in fantasy inmate for murder. Virginia cheers, and brags in front of Carol and Barb's corpses. ("Be Free")
Relationships[]
Friends[]
- Alvarez
- Frieda Berlin - Helped her by giving her a pen and paper and also being inspirational
- Cindy Hayes
- Hopper
- Ryder Blake
- Luschek
- Tamika Ward
- Jarod Young
Enemies[]
- Piper Chapman - she neglected Piper when Piper needed help from Badison and also blackmailed her to fight Maria.
- Hellman - she doesn't seem to agree with his angry nature
- Stefanovic - she doesn't seem to agree with his angry nature
- Carol Denning
- Barbara Denning
Appearances[]
Orange Is the New Black: Season Six | ||||||||||
"Who Knows Better Than I": | "Shitstorm Coming": | "Look Out for Number One": | "I'm the Talking Ass": | "Mischief Mischief": | "State of the Uterus": | "Changing Winds": | ||||
Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
"Gordons": | "Break the String": | "Chocolate Chip Nookie": | "Well This Took a Dark Turn": | "Double Trouble": | "Be Free": | |||||
Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears |
Orange Is the New Black: Season Seven | ||||||||||
"Beginning of the End": | "Just Desserts": | "And Brown Is the New Orange": | "How to Do Life": | "Minority Deport": | "Trapped in an Elevator": | "Me as Well": | ||||
Absent | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | ||||
"Baker's Dozen": | "The Hidey Hole": | "The Thirteenth": | "God Bless America": | "The Big House": | "Here's Where We Get Off": | |||||
Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears |