The people taken from their housing unit were held in a dining hall for more than four hours without food, water or medication, according to interviews and records. After a person had a seizure and tensions rose, officers entered carrying pepper sprayers and chemical grenades. At least 15 grenades were later used, records show. People were then zip-tied and taken outside, where officers deployed chemical agents again as they sat in the sun.

Women reported injuries including seizures and loss of vision. Catrina Cameron, who said she was sprayed during the incident, later told a friend she could not see from one eye. She said she still has not regained her sight and has avoided the dining hall since that day.

The operation, internally called “Operation Breakdown,” was planned in roughly four and a half hours, according to statements to investigators by prison officials. Two senior staff members said they questioned the urgency. In one account in internal affairs records, officials said Chief Deputy Warden Cynthia Rojas told them that “these bitches need to know who’s in control.” Rojas was not disciplined, according to records.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it investigated 95 employees and disciplined 34, including firing three for excessive force and dishonesty. The department initially sought discipline against 41 staff members, but some penalties changed after appeals; some appeals remain pending. CDCR described the case as the largest corrective action arising from one incident in its history. It did not answer questions about the operation’s connection to rising sexual-abuse complaints.

The incident unfolded against a broader backdrop of allegations of staff sexual abuse at the prison, one of California’s two women’s penitentiaries and home to more than 2,000 people. A recent U.S. Department of Justice investigation found what it called an “unbroken pattern” of sexual abuse and retaliation in the state’s women’s prisons spanning more than two decades. Federal officials said they examined the 2024 operation alongside allegations that staff punished people for speaking up and longstanding failures to protect them.

Data obtained from CDCR showed that the rate of staff sexual-misconduct complaints at the Chowchilla prison rose about 1,800% from 2022 to 2023. In 2025, the rate fell about 75%. The department did not answer questions about the figures. People interviewed said fear of retaliation may have discouraged complaints, though there may be other reasons for the decline. More than 2,000 complaints across California state prisons had not been adjudicated as of the latest data examined.

Aliksandria Prout’s account illustrates the stakes for people reporting abuse. Prout said former correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez summoned her to a room in May 2022 under the pretense of an attorney visit and sexually assaulted her. She said he warned that reporting him could bring disciplinary action and more time in prison.

Rodriguez was later convicted on 64 counts of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual battery, and sentenced to 224 years in prison. A CDCR investigation identified 22 potential victims. Records show investigators and department leaders had been notified of allegations months before Rodriguez was removed from his post; during that period, he assaulted at least six women, including Prout, according to the investigation. CDCR did not explain why it took so long to stop him. The department said Rodriguez’s conviction reaffirmed its own investigation and condemned his conduct.

Prout testified in the case and sued the state. CDCR agreed to pay her $1.2 million in 2023 to settle her claim, without an admission of fault. Hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Rodriguez and other officers were later consolidated in Sacramento Superior Court.

In the weeks before Operation Breakdown, incarcerated people also described warnings about filing complaints. Antoinette Yancey, who served on the prison’s inmate advisory council, said a sergeant told her that sexual-assault complaints and prison grievances needed to stop and threatened a lockdown and loss of privileges if they continued. CDCR declined to make the sergeant available and did not respond to questions about the allegation.

Thirteen women, including Cameron and Yancey, sued the state over injuries from the 2024 incident, alleging it was tied to reports of sexual assault. The state paid the group $1.9 million to settle the case without admitting fault; a separate class-action lawsuit is pending.

CDCR said it is committed to protecting victims and that sexual abuse, harassment and retaliation against incarcerated people are unacceptable. The department also cited federal audits finding that the state’s two women’s prisons met all 45 standards reviewed under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Those audits assess policies and practices for meeting the standards; they do not establish whether abuse occurred in individual cases.

For people still inside the facility, the aftermath remains present. Yancey said officers involved in the operation continue to work at the prison and remain antagonistic toward incarcerated people. Cameron said the incident may have silenced some, but she hopes others will keep speaking out.