We Are Jane Doe E2: Operation Breakdown

August 2nd, 2024, started with a search. More than 150 women rounded up into chow hall as their cells were tossed.  What happened next was beyond their imagination. It would be investigated by the feds and the state. Things did not go to plan, or did they? Part 2 of 3.

This episode contains violence against women, sexual assault, and strong language. Please take care while listening. 

“We Are Jane Doe” is a new 3-part series from KQED’s Snap Studios. Over three episodes, we trace Ali Prout’s dramatic fight for justice and the stunning ripple effects that threaten to upend the system of power and control at one of the largest women’s prisons on earth.

KQED reporters Anna Sussman and Madi Bolaños spent two years investigating this story. They spoke to more than a dozen women incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility, read through hundreds of pages of internal prison documents, obtained leaked audio, and painstakingly watched hours of video footage to reconstruct one of the most complex and devastating use-of-force incidents in state history.

This series was made possible in part with support from The Poynter Institute.

Produced by: Madi Bolaños, Anna Sussman & Sukey Lewis

Featured Story Voices: Aliksandria Prout, Katrina Cameron, Christina Wind, Wisdom Mohammed, Elizabeth Lozano

Editors: Sukey Lewis, Nancy Lopez & Mark Ristich

Fact-checking: Mark Bettancourt

Data Editor: Jeremy Sanchez Rue of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism

Original Music & Engineering: Dirk Schwarzhoff

Director of Production: Marisa Dodge

Executive Producers: Glynn Washington and Mark Ristich

Season 17 – Episode 44