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Rosa Cisneros, known as Miss Rosa, was an inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary. She is portrayed by Barbara Rosenblat. The young Rosa Cisneros, seen in flashbacks during Season Two, is portrayed by Stephanie Andujar.

Personality

Rosa seems rather irritable and sassy in Season One. Though the sass is real, she isn't as angry as one is led to believe. She is merely fed up with prison and her situation. In Season Two, we find that she is actually quite playful yet snarky and isn't easily aggravated.

Physical Appearance

She is an older women of Cuban descent, with a light complexion and a heavy figure. Additionally, she is bald due to the hair loss that resulted from her chemotherapy.

Biography

Life Before Prison

RosaInfobox

For a list of episodes featuring Rosa's flashbacks, see here.

Miss Rosa robbed multiple banks with three men; Marco, Andy and Don, beginning in 1982. However, every time she would get close to one of her partners while robbing banks, something horrible would happen. Initially, she was married to Marco, but he died of a gunshot wound after robbing their first bank. Then, she married Andy, who died of a heart attack just after another robbery. Miss Rosa was then romantically interested in the last man in the group, Don, and after a heist she asked him to pull the car over. He thought she wanted to have sexual relations, but she actually wanted to rob another bank - one that they had no prior knowledge of. He refused, but Rosa, in a trance of excitement and empowerment, went ahead alone, resulting in her arrest ("Appropriately Sized Pots").

In flashbacks of Rosa's life upon first entering prison, we can see that the uniforms are different and she uses a phone while speaking to visitors. This means that she was in a maximum security facility but was transferred to Litchfield later on.

Life at Litchfield

When she first arrived at Litchfield, she fought Red for power but lost. Quickly after, she was diagnosed with cancer, which she is "grateful for" as "no one fucks with cancer." She is a permanent bunkmate of Anita DeMarco, who also deals with health issues. She leaves Litchfield every week to receive chemotherapy ("I Wasn't Ready") ("Tit Punch").

Season One

Piper was bunked with Rosa when she first arrived to prison ("I Wasn't Ready"). While bunked with Piper, she warned her about Red's undeniable power ("Tit Punch").

She played Joseph in the Christmas play. ("Can't Fix Crazy")

Season Two

During a particular meal time, Vee and her gang tell her to move so they can use her table. To make her leave, Suzanne pours water over all her food. As she leaves, Rosa comments that Vee is "very rude."

During her weekly visits to chemotherapy, she reluctantly befriends a teenage boy, Yusef, also suffering from cancer. She reveals some of her past to him and even helps him execute a miniature heist by stealing a wallet from one of the nurses. She later finds him crying with his mother, and chalks it up to her "curse" until he reveals that he is actually in remission and will no longer need chemotherapy. Rosa, who is ecstatic at his news, says goodbye as she is wheeled off.

After a visit with her doctor, she is informed that she only has three to six weeks left to live. Lorna, in a fit of compassion, leaves the keys to a prisoner transport van, which Rosa acts upon and drives from the prison at high speed. As she is making her way from the prison she sees Vee on the side of the road, and proceeds to ram her with the van stating: "Always so rude, that one". "(We Have Manners. We're Polite.)"

After the events of the Season Two finale, she drives the prison van into a quarry, killing herself and destroying the van.

Season Three

She makes an appearance in the episode "We Can Be Heroes" in Caputo's flashback to when he first started working at Litchfield. She is seen with short, brown hair, signaling that either she didn't have cancer yet or it was in an early stage.

Memorable Quotes

"You are a very rude woman."
— Miss Rosa
"Always so rude, that one."
— Miss Rosa
"Enjoy your life, shitpot!"
— Miss Rosa
"The thing about reality is, it's always waiting for you the next day."
— Miss Rosa

Gallery

Season 1

"I Wasn't Ready"

Others

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Rosa2 Rosa3 Rosa4 Rosa5 Rosa6

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