KQED Investigates Abuse and Retaliation at CA’s Largest Women’s Prison
Officers lead an incarcerated woman through a Receiving and Release (R&R) yard at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Calif., on June 30, 2026. The prison is the largest women's correctional facility in California, and the R&R yard is used to process incarcerated people entering and leaving the facility.
Airdate: Monday, October 5, 2026 at 9am
When Aliksandria Prout was released from the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla in 2022, she set out to bring the correctional officer who abused her to justice. Her story — along with many other survivors of prison abuse — is detailed in a new series from KQED’s Snap Studios called “We Are Jane Doe.” The three-part series chronicles a two-year investigation by reporters Madi Bolaños and Anna Sussman into sexual abuse and retaliation at one of the largest women’s prisons on earth. We’ll talk with Prout about her experience as “Jane Doe Number One” in the high profile case against Gregory Rodriguez — and hear from Bolaños and Sussman about how the prison system has enabled this kind of abuse to go unchecked.
Guests:
- Madi Bolaños, host, producer, “We Are Jane Doe” and co-host The California Report, KQED
- Anna Sussman, producer, “We Are Jane Doe” and senior producer and managing editor, Snap Judgment.
- Aliksandria Prout was formerly incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, subject of “We Are Jane Doe”