New podcast explores one woman’s journey as incarcerated firefighter

Fire Escape follows Amika Mota’s challenges after being sentenced to almost ten years in prison and her identity-shifting work as an incarcerated first responder.

The limited series tells the story of Amika, an incarcerated female firefighter, former midwife, and daughter of a feminist icon, whose journey challenges the stigma surrounding women in prison.

Listeners ride along with Amika to emergency calls, as she saves the lives of people in the prison town, including her jailers and their families.

During her time in prison, she had to also learn how to be a mother to her three growing children, despite being told by the world that she is no longer entitled to that role.

Across the series, Amika confronts and transforms the shame imposed on women in prison through her human-to-human actions in emergency situations. She defies a system intent on burying her under the weight of her worst moment.

Her stories as an incarcerated first responder shifts the narrative around women in prison, emphasising their right to live a full and worthy life.

From Wondery and KQED’s Snap Studios, Fire Escape is hosted by award-winning Anna Sussman, who has reported on prisons designated for women in California for nearly twenty years.

Anna says: “When I first started talking to Amika, she had a way of seeing the layers upon layers of expectations put on women in prison. And then when she talked about her experiences on the fire truck, all of those expectations unravelled. It was a whole new way of telling a story.”

The limited series will be released on 13 November exclusively on Wondery+, and then on Amazon Music and everywhere you get your podcasts from 9 December.