On Our Watch
When correctional officer Valentino Rodriguez first stepped behind prison walls, he wasn’t just starting a job, he was joining a family. What he didn’t know was that he was now bound by an unwritten code that would ultimately test his loyalty to his oath and his fellow officers. Five years later, Valentino’s sudden death would raise questions from the FBI, his family and his mentor in the elite investigative unit where they both worked. This season, join us as we follow in Valentino’s footsteps to uncover the secrets hidden inside the most dangerous prison in California: New Folsom. If you have tips or feedback about this series please reach out to us at onourwatch@kqed.org.

EpisodesEpisodes

'How to Kill a Cop': Death, Despair and Corruption in California's Most Violent Prison
'How to Kill a Cop': Death, Despair and Corruption in California's Most Violent Prison
The warden of New Folsom Prison, a broad-shouldered, middle-aged man with short brown hair, stands in front of a road during a press tour. He is wearing a bright salmon-colored shirt and a dark suit with a patterned tie, looking into the distance with a serious expression. The prison’s chain link fence is visible in the background, along with other attendees, some taking notes. The ‘On Our Watch’ logo is in the top-left corner.
Image of a prison guard tower. In the foreground, a gray concrete wall topped with barbed wire transitions into a chain-link fence on the right, also crowned with barbed wire. In the right third of the frame, a prominent five-sided dark blue guard tower ascends into a cloudless deep blue sky. The top of the tower widens into a control room covered with reflective windows.
Portrait of California State Senator Nancy Skinner, a white, middle-aged woman with chin-length brown hair. She is smiling and wearing a gray blazer over a purple top with a necklace. She is standing outside in front of an out-of-focus building. The background surrounding the portrait is blurred with gradient colors from blue to green. The text 'ON OUR WATCH' is written in the lower-left corner.
A side-by-side image of Jesse Vasquez on the left and Rahsaan Thomas on the right. Jesse Vasquez, who has a shaved head and is wearing a light blue checkered shirt, is seated outdoors with greenery in the background. Rahsaan Thomas, who has a goatee and is wearing a red "Ear Hustle" T-shirt, is standing outside, smiling, with trees and a clear sky behind him. Both are formerly incarcerated journalists. The words "On Our Watch" are visible in the lower left corner of Jesse's photo.
Composite photo showing two women: Mary Inman on the left, smiling with short, curly hair, wearing glasses on top of her head, and a dark jacket; Poppy Alexander on the right, smiling with shoulder-length hair, wearing a dark blazer, sitting with hands clasped. Both are partners at the whistleblower law firm Whistleblower Partners, LLP.

On Our Watch is an investigative reporting podcast produced by KQED. Special thanks to editorial consultants Rahsaan Thomas of Ear Hustle, Sandhya Dirks of NPR and KQED’s April Dembosky.

David Barstow, Chair of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, provided support and guidance. Graduate students Kathleen Quinn, Laura Fitzgerald, Cayla Mihalovich, Julietta Bisharyan, William Jenkins, Elizabeth Santos, Armon Owlia, Vera Watt, and Junyao Yang provided research. Jeremy Rue, Associate Professor of Practice at UC Berkeley Journalism and Amanda Glazer, PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley Statistics did our data analysis. Funding for On Our Watch is provided in part by Arnold Ventures and the California Endowment. Additional support for student researchers was provided by the Knight Foundation.


The case files covered in the series were obtained as part of the California Reporting Project, a collaboration of 40 newsrooms formed in late 2018 to investigate misconduct and serious use of force unsealed by a new state law.

The Team - Season 2

Sukey Lewis
Sukey Lewis

Host/Reporter

Sukey Lewis is a criminal justice reporter for KQED. In 2018, she co-founded the California Reporting Project, a coalition of newsrooms across the state focused on obtaining previously sealed internal affairs records from law enforcement. Sukey's investigation of the bail bonds industry won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and the radio documentary she co-reported on the California wildfires was a Peabody finalist. Sukey earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.
Julie Small
Julie Small

Reporter

Julie Small is a criminal justice reporter with over a decade of experience investigating California’s prisons, jails and immigrant detention. She was part of a reporting team recognized with a regional Edward R. Murrow award in 2019 for ongoing coverage of the Trump Administration's family separation policy. In 2018 Julie exposed corruption within a Sheriff-Coroners’ office that prompted county administrators to establish a medical examiners officer to take over death investigations. The SPJ recognized the series with an Excellence in Journalism Award for Ongoing Coverage. The 2015 beating death of a man jailed in Santa Clara County while awaiting treatment for a mental illness was the catalyst for a year-long collaboration with Lisa Pickoff-White. The series investigated the human cost of dubious mental healthcare in California jails and won a 2017 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for news reporting and an investigative reporting award from the SPJ of Northern California. Julie began her journalism career in 2000 as deputy foreign editor for APM's Marketplace until she left in 2007 to report for KPCC. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from USC.
Victoria Mauleón
Victoria Mauleón

Editor

Victoria Mauleón is an award-winning, bilingual editor for podcast, radio, TV and digital outlets. She brings her years of experience with long-from audio narrative and deep-dive reporting to the “On Our Watch” team. She is also senior editor of KQED’s weekly, statewide public radio program The California Report Magazine. Victoria has taught advanced radio and podcasting at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Before her work in radio, Victoria worked as a television producer, and her stories about immigration along the US-Mexico border aired on PBS and MSNBC. Victoria earned a BA in Psychology from Amherst College, and a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Steven Rascón
Steven Rascón

Producer

Steven Rascón is a radio producer and reporter for KQED Podcasts. He’s produced for Rightnowish, The California Report Magazine and Bay Curious. His reporting has aired on KCRW, Capital Public Radio, and WHYY. He is also the production manager for the PRX radio show and podcast Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting where he helped produce the Peabody-nominated podcast Mississippi Goddaml. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley.
Chris Egusa
Chris Egusa

Producer

Chris Egusa is an editor, producer and reporter for KQED Podcasts, specializing in developing new audio storytelling initiatives. With a focus on disability, mental health, and healthcare inequities, Chris’ reporting has earned accolades from the Public Media Journalists Association, SPJ NorCal, and the San Francisco Press Club. His work includes an investigation into allegations of abuse in California’s disability group homes. He holds degrees from SJSU and Northwestern University.
Tarek Fouda
Tarek Fouda

Sound Designer

Tarek Fouda is a sound engineer who has contributed to KALW, NBC, The Smithsonian, This American Life and many others.
Jen Chien
Jen Chien

Executive Producer

Jen Chien is Director of Podcasts at KQED and co-founder of the Editors Collective and Edit Mode. Previously, she was Executive Editor for LWC Studios, Senior Radio Editor at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and Managing Editor for Crosscurrents and KALW News. Awards recognitions include Third Coast, Peabody, Gracies, ONA/OJA, and SPJ Sigma Delta Chi. She holds a BA in American Studies from Smith College, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Performance from New College of California.

The Team - Season 1

Sukey Lewis
Sukey Lewis

Host/Reporter

Sukey Lewis is a criminal justice reporter for KQED. In 2018, she co-founded the California Reporting Project, a coalition of newsrooms across the state focused on obtaining previously sealed internal affairs records from law enforcement. Sukey's investigation of the bail bonds industry won a National Edward R. Murrow Award and the radio documentary she co-reported on the California wildfires was a Peabody finalist. Sukey earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.
Sandhya Dirks
Sandhya Dirks

Reporter/Producer

Sandhya Dirks is the race and equity reporter for KQED. She has focused on investigating the criminal justice system and police misconduct since the beginning of her career. She’s also covered presidential politics from the swing state of Iowa, and her reporting into allegations of sexual harassment by the mayor of San Diego led to his resignation. Sandhya believes all stories are stories about power.
Cynthia Betubiza
Cynthia Betubiza

Production Assistant

Cynthia Betubiza is an Ugandan-American journalist, currently working in production for NPR. She’s worked across the audio and digital industry on short and long-form pieces at organizations such as Vox, Marketplace, TED, and more. She received her Bachelor’s in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University.
Adelina Lancianese
Adelina Lancianese

Producer

Adelina Lancianese is a producer at the NPR Story Lab, a creative studio that fosters newsroom experimentation and incubates new podcasts. She focuses on investigative projects including NPR Music’s Louder Than A Riot podcast, the I’ll Be Seeing You radio series and Coal’s Deadly Dust, a collaboration with PBS Frontline, which was nominated for both Peabody and Emmy awards. Adelina came to NPR as a 2017 Kroc Fellow and graduated with honors from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Nina Sparling
Nina Sparling

Production Assistant

Nina Sparling is a reporter and producer with KQED. She has reported on private investment in public housing, contaminated water in the Central Valley, and the State of Jefferson. Nina holds a master’s in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.
Huo Jingnan
Huo Jingnan

Data Reporter

Huo Jingnan (she/her) is an assistant producer on NPR's investigations team. She collaborates with member stations and reporters in the network to produce enterprise stories. She is the primary data reporter on Coal's Deadly Dust, a project investigating black lung disease's resurgence. The multimedia project won an Edward Murrow Award and NASEM Communications award, and was nominated for a George Foster Peabody award and two Emmy awards.
Leila Day
Leila Day

Editor

Leila Day is a Senior Producer at Pineapple Street Media and is the Executive Producer and co-host of The Stoop Podcast, stories about the black diaspora. Her work has been featured on NPR, 99% Invisible, the BBC and other outlets. Before The Stoop, she was an editor at Al Jazeera's podcast network and worked on creating and editing award-winning narrative driven journalism. She began her journalism career at KALW where she worked as a health care and criminal justice reporter. During that time, she contributed as an editor, taught audio storytelling to inmates at San Quentin and helped develop curriculum for training upcoming reporters.
Alex Emslie
Alex Emslie

Consulting Editor

Alex Emslie is criminal justice editor for KQED. He has been an investigative reporter focused on police misconduct and deadly force for over a decade. He co-founded the California Reporting Project in 2018 with Lewis and other journalists, seeking to obtain previously secret internal police files and tell the public what they show. Emslie’s past reporting on policing and mental illness was cited in amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court. He believes in the civic responsibility of the press.
Nicole Beemsterboer
Nicole Beemsterboer

Supervising Senior Producer

Nicole Beemsterboer is the Supervising Senior Producer of the Enterprise Storytelling Unit at NPR, where she oversees the longform podcasts Invisibilia, Rough Translation and Embedded, in addition to limited-run series like On Our Watch. She’s been recognized with journalism's highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Previously, she served as the Senior Producer of Investigations at NPR and was a producer on NPR's daily flagship news program, Morning Edition. Beemsterboer is a graduate of Indiana University and began her career in public radio as a reporter at NPR member station WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana.

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