ICE officials visit FCI Dublin amid fears it may be used as detention center: union source
ICE officials visit FCI Dublin amid fears it may be used as detention center: union source
ICE officials visited the now-closed FCI Dublin prison on Thursday and Friday to possibly turn the facility into an ICE detention center.
DUBLIN, Calif. - Immigration officials toured the now-shuttered Federal Correctional Institution at Dublin on Thursday, a prison union source confirmed.
The visit from ICE comes as union officials and those who were incarcerated there worry the prison – which closed last year after a national sex abuse scandal – might be turned into an immigration detention center under the Trump administration.
ICE visits FCI Dublin
John Kostelnik, the Western region vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals No. 33, which represents federal prison workers, said multiple facilities around the U.S. have already been slated for immigration detainees.
"Facilities like Dublin … are closed and being looked at for purposes outside the BOP, like ICE taking over or even an ICE contractor taking over," he told KTVU in an email. . "There is so much uncertainty, and the lack of transparency is causing complete chaos. The displaced staff have little to no hope and have been fully demoralized through it all."
The Los Angeles Times first reported that Kostelnik was worried the Bureau of Prisons would become a branch of ICE.
Union, lawyers, activists upset
In an email to KTVU, Kostelnik said he is also against the government building being managed by a private contractor.
"The federal prison system is far more adequate than its private counterparts and the administration and all stakeholders should properly invest in and prioritize the work on fixing the BOP and turning it into the model system and not dismantling it as they are with multiple prisons across the country," he wrote.
Kostenik acknowledged that federal prisons were used to detain immigrants during Trump's first presidency, but what's happening now is on a much larger scale.
"Our entire agency most certainly is not equipped for this," he said.
Powerless in Prison: The fallout of FCI Dublin
In April, the Bureau of Prisons abruptly shut down the troubled FCI Dublin. KTVU interviews dozens of women and explains what led up to the closure, questioning whether this was retaliation for outside oversight over the prison, which has been riddled with sex abuse for decades.
Asbestos, black mold
Those who were once incarcerated there, and their lawyers, are also upset, citing the fact that the buildings are rife with environmental hazards.
Court documents and witness testimony show that the facility is plagued with asbestos, black mold, leaks, sewage overflows, water contamination.
BOP William Lothrop testified before a federal judge in Oakland that the prison needs "tens of millions of dollars" in repairs to address these major problems.
Susan Beaty, an attorney for the women who were incarcerated in Dublin and sued the BOP, said if the prison is turned into a detention center, immigrants detained by ICE would be subjected to the same "inhumane and unsafe conditions."
"FCI Dublin was a place of extreme violence and mistreatment where noncitizens were specifically preyed upon by staff," Beaty said. "And unfortunately, we have every reason to believe that ICE would carry on that tradition of abuse, retaliation, and medical neglect."
Kendra Drysdale of Santa Cruz, who was once incarcerated at FCI Dublin, said she and the other plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit are demanding that FCI Dublin stay closed for good.
"Reopening the prison, where black mold and asbestos were quite literally making people sick, and locking up noncitizens there would be deeply cruel and reveal the failure of the federal government to enact structural change," Drysdale said.
John Kostelnick, western region vice president for the prison guard union, also spoke to reporters outside FCI Dublin. March 14, 2022
Other possible ICE centers
KTVU has been reaching out to the BOP, ICE and the Department of Defense since January, trying to find out the same question: Will FCI Dublin become an ICE detention center? None of the agencies had confirmed that.
Kostelnik confirmed to KTVU late Thursday that ICE officials had, in fact, toured the closed prison earlier in the day.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that three sources told them federal jails in Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia and federal prisons in Atlanta, Leavenworth, Kansas, and Berlin, New Hampshire, are among the facilities being used.
The Miami jail alone is set to receive up to 500 detainees, the sources said.
The sources cited by the Associated Press did not mention FCI Dublin as one of the facilities.
Kostelnik told KTVU that ICE officials were also looking to possibly turn the now-closed FCI Morgantown in West Virginia into a detention center as well.
He also said that FCI Berlin in New Hampshire is getting 500 plus immigration detainees soon.
FCI Dublin closed in 2024
FCI Dublin was closed in April 2024 after a federal judge in Oakland placed a special master over the prison, citing a dysfunctional culture where officers had sexually assaulted dozens of incarcerated women.
Seven of those officers have been convicted; an eighth is headed to trial.
Instead of meeting the reforms set out by Special Master Wendy Still, former BOP Director Colette Peters said she couldn't make the changes necessary, despite devoting resources.
Since May, the prison has been empty, though there are still some employees working there.
In December, the Bureau of Prisons reached an agreement in a class action lawsuit brought by women who were incarcerated at FCI Dublin.
The suit was over the widespread reports of sexual abuse, documented in extensive reporting from KTVU.