Murder, She Wrote Season 2, Episode 9
"Jessica Behind Bars"
Original airdate: Dec. 1, 1985
Writer: Carleton Eastlake
Director: John Llewellyn Moxley
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Margaret Avery, Adrienne Barbeau, Barbara Baxley, Yvonne De Carlo, Linda Kelsey, Janet MacLachlan, Vera Miles, Susan Oliver, Eve Plumb, Mary Woronov, Susan Peretz, Donna Ponterotto, Diana Bellamy, Faith Minton, Darlene Conley, Aimee Eccles
Sandwiched halfway between 1974's Caged Heat and 1994's Caged Heat II: Stripped of Freedom, Murder, She Wrote offers its own entry to the women's prison exploitation genre with "Jessica Behind Bars," a taut thriller with a mostly female cast. And yes, that's a full four years before Ben Matlock will wind up in a similar mess with the likes of "Tiny" Lister, Jr. and David Carradine in his own Season 4 two-parter.