Bringing greater transparency and accountability to immigration detention in California
SB 423, the Detention Facility Transparency Act, was signed into law on September 29, 2026. Co-sponsored by Immigrant Defense Advocates and the First Amendment Coalition and authored by Senator Lena Gonzalez, SB 423 strengthens California law by ensuring that critical records related to emergency calls from privately operated detention facilities are accessible to the public. People held in immigration detention are often confined in facilities that operate far from public view. When serious medical emergencies, allegations of abuse, sexual violence, or other incidents occur, 911 calls and emergency-response records can provide some of the few independent windows into what is happening inside. Yet journalists, advocates, families, and members of the public have encountered significant barriers when seeking these records. SB 423 addresses that problem by clarifying California’s public-records law and requiring local agencies to disclose records concerning 911 calls and other calls for emergency services originating from privately operated detention facilities, subject to protections established in the law.Why SB 423 Was Needed
Recent reporting demonstrated how gaps in public access could prevent Californians from learning about serious incidents occurring inside immigration detention facilities. In March 2026, CalMatters reported that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department received 159 calls for service from the Otay Mesa Detention Center in 2025. Twenty-one were connected to the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, including seven identified as allegations of rape. When reporters sought additional information about those incidents, including 911 audio and complete dispatch records, the Sheriff’s Department declined to release them, citing a law-enforcement-investigation exemption. At the same time, records obtained by CalMatters showed that the Sheriff’s Department had an agreement giving the privately operated facility’s warden responsibility for investigating allegations of sexual assault or abuse. The Sheriff’s Department said it had not initiated criminal investigations into the reported cases. Similar concerns emerged elsewhere in California. Reporting about the Adelanto detention facility documented a dramatic increase in emergency calls as the detained population grew, while efforts to obtain records providing more information about individual incidents were met with similar disclosure barriers. These cases exposed a basic transparency problem: records documenting emergencies inside privately operated detention facilities could be withheld even when no active law-enforcement investigation was taking place.What SB 423 Does
SB 423 strengthens public access to information about emergencies occurring inside privately operated detention facilities. The law:- Requires disclosure of 911 and emergency-service records originating from privately operated detention facilities.
- Clarifies that disclosure is mandatory, rather than leaving agencies with inconsistent interpretations of their obligations.
- Provides access to audio recordings and related written records that can help document serious incidents occurring inside detention facilities.
- Protects affected individuals by requiring appropriate redactions of identifying information.
- Preserves protections for active investigations while preventing broad investigatory exemptions from being used to shield records where no active investigation exists.
Transparency Is a Tool for Accountability
Immigration detention is exceptionally difficult for the public to scrutinize. Facilities are frequently operated by private contractors on behalf of the federal government, while state and local authorities may have limited access to information about what occurs inside. That makes records created when local emergency services are called especially important. 911 calls, dispatch records, and emergency-response information can help families understand what happened to loved ones, allow journalists to investigate patterns of harm, give policymakers and advocates information needed to identify systemic problems, and help communities understand what is occurring inside detention facilities operating in their own backyards. As IDA Co-Executive Director Jackie Gonzalez said following the signing of SB 423:“People in immigration detention are suffering behind closed doors, and the public should not have to fight through layers of secrecy just to learn when someone has been seriously harmed or when emergency services are repeatedly called to a detention facility. SB 423 helps bring basic transparency to a system where too much can happen outside public view.”
