Bill info: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1399
SB 1399: Making Immigration Detention Oversight Permanent
Ensuring California continues inspecting and reporting on conditions inside immigration detention facilities
SB 1399 was signed into law on September 29, 2026, permanently preserving California’s framework for independent review of immigration detention facilities. Authored by Senator María Elena Durazo and co-sponsored by Immigrant Defense Advocates and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the law removes the expiration date from California DOJ’s detention-review mandate.
For nearly a decade, California Department of Justice inspections have provided one of the most important independent sources of information about conditions inside immigration detention facilities operating in the state.
Those reviews examine conditions of confinement, standards of care, and the effect detention conditions may have on people’s due process rights. The findings are then reported to the Legislature and made available to the public.
But that oversight was not permanent.
Without legislative action, the statutory review framework established by AB 103 was scheduled to expire on July 1, 2027.
SB 1399 ensures that it continues.
Why Independent Inspections Matter
Immigration detention facilities operate largely outside ordinary public view.
People detained inside, their families, journalists, advocates, policymakers, and members of the public often have limited ability to independently assess conditions within these facilities.
California DOJ inspections have helped fill that information gap.
Since the original oversight framework was established in 2017, the Department of Justice has conducted facility reviews and issued five public reports examining conditions in California immigration detention facilities.
The fifth report documented concerns including insufficient medical and detention staffing, substandard medical care, problems involving basic necessities, and barriers affecting due process. It also documented six deaths at private detention facilities between September 2025 and March 2026.
Those findings provide public information that can inform policymakers, families, advocates, journalists, and oversight agencies about conditions that would otherwise be difficult to observe.
What SB 1399 Does
SB 1399 makes California’s immigration detention review framework permanent.
The law:
- Removes the July 1, 2027 expiration date from the existing California DOJ review requirement.
- Continues California DOJ inspections of immigration detention facilities.
- Preserves review of conditions of confinement and standards of care.
- Continues examination of how detention conditions affect due process rights.
- Ensures findings continue to be reported to the Legislature and made available to the public.
Rather than creating an entirely new oversight system, SB 1399 preserves a framework that has operated since 2017 and ensures it does not disappear because of a statutory sunset date.
Keeping Conditions in Public View
Oversight depends on information.
Without independent inspections, much of what occurs inside a locked detention facility can remain known only to facility operators, federal agencies, and the people confined there.
California DOJ reports have created a public record of conditions across the state’s immigration detention system and have documented issues involving health care, staffing, food and water, sanitation, deaths in custody, and access to due process.
As IDA Co-Executive Director Hamid Yazdan Panah stated during the legislative process, past inspections have surfaced problems that otherwise could remain outside public view and have provided information to families, policymakers, advocates, and the public.
SB 1399 ensures those inspections and reports will continue.
Building Long-Term State Oversight
California’s detention oversight framework has developed over several legislative sessions through laws addressing inspections, public health, facility conditions, transparency, and accountability.
SB 1399 provides continuity to that work.
By eliminating the sunset on California DOJ’s inspection authority, the law ensures that state oversight does not depend on the Legislature repeatedly renewing the program.
California DOJ will continue inspecting immigration detention facilities, documenting conditions, and making its findings available to policymakers and the public.
SB 1399 at a Glance
Author: Senator María Elena Durazo
Co-Sponsors: Immigrant Defense Advocates • California Attorney General Rob Bonta
Status: Signed into law September 29, 2026
What It Does: Makes California DOJ’s immigration detention inspection and reporting framework permanent
Previous Expiration: July 1, 2027
Issue Areas: Immigration Detention • Government Oversight • Transparency • Conditions of Confinement
