ICE Weighs Turning FCI Dublin Into Detention Center, Union Leaders Say

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials appear to be considering a plan to convert FCI Dublin, a shuttered federal prison in the East Bay, into an immigrant detention center, according to union leaders representing facility workers.

“BOP Central Office staff, BOP Western Regional Staff and ICE representatives did a visual structural assessment on FCI Dublin,” said Edward Canales, president of Local 3584, the union representing 120 prison employees, referring to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The union includes correctional officers, teachers, counselors, case managers, food service, medical and maintenance staff. Canales said union members who attended a walkthrough on Thursday informed him that the assessment involved inspecting the prison grounds, buildings and security fence for structural damage.

“Basically, can the prison hold detainees as is, or [does it] need repairs,” Canales said.

Another union official said ICE representatives were at the facility as recently as Friday and that ICE and BOP recently finalized an agreement to detain immigrants in federal prisons.

“The administration’s push for what they want, it will require a lot of bed space. And when I say bed space, I’m talking about detention center bed spaces for detainees. And they don’t have it. So they need bed space,” said John Kostelnik, western regional vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals No. 33, which represents around 3,500 prison employees.

“With the contract that ICE and BOP have entered into and the needed bed space…and then their assessments — them coming to the facility and doing these assessments — my opinion would be the indication is absolutely there that this is potentially going to be converted to an ICE facility,” Kostelnik, who said he was made aware of the contract, continued. “There’s a lot of unofficial notice from agency officials and others that are telling us that this is what is happening.”

Donald Murphy, a BOP spokesperson, confirmed the agency is assisting ICE by housing detainees.

“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not comment on the legal status of an individual, nor do we specify the legal status of individuals assigned to any particular facility, concluding numbers and locations,” he said.

An ICE spokesperson said the agency’s expanded enforcement operations have led to a surge in arrests, increasing the need for more detention space.

“While we cannot confirm individual pre-decisional conversations, we can confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements,” the spokesperson said.

The BOP abruptly closed FCI Dublin last year following years of sexual misconduct scandals. Eight former prison officials were charged with sexually abusing inmates. Seven were convicted and an eighth is set to go to trial in March.

“For years, I advocated on behalf of people incarcerated at FCI Dublin who were subjected to unconscionable abuse and deplorable living conditions, including crumbling infrastructure and mold, which culminated in the necessary closure of the prison,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said. “Less than a year ago, FCI Dublin was deemed too dangerous and uninhabitable for people in Bureau of Prisons custody, and nothing has changed since its closure.

“It would be inhumane to reverse course and reopen the facility to house people in ICE custody. This is a matter of basic humanity, and I won’t stand for this wanton cruelty and disregard for human rights, particularly in our community.”

At the time of the facility’s closure, hundreds of women were quickly transferred to other federal prisons throughout the country during the facility’s closure.

“Over the past several years at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) has taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure — and most critical — employee misconduct,” then-BOP Director Colette S. Peters said in an April 15 statement. “Despite these steps and resources, we have determined that FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility.”

Kostelnik said staff at the facility were given notice of “potential displacement” and advised to start looking for BOP vacancies elsewhere in the country.

Since then, staff have been in limbo, Canales said.

With no clear answers on whether they will remain employed at Dublin under ICE or BOP or be reassigned elsewhere, employees are “physically and mentally hurting,” Canales said.

“The unknown is destroying them,” he said. “BOP Executives are scrambling to keep their jobs and have forgotten [about] the lower ranks.”

“We feel strongly that it should not be reopened, not for BOP or for ICE,” said Kendra Drysdale, an advocacy coordinator for the Dublin Survivors Coalition and the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, who was previously incarcerated at FCI Dublin. “The facility itself has so many infrastructure problems. Mold, asbestos, leaking sewage — I mean, they’ve determined it to be uninhabitable.”