Toxic and Abused: Dublin Prison Poised to Reopen as ICE Detention Hellhole

The shuttered Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, a low-security women’s prison closed in 2024 amid reports of rampant sexual abuse and neglect, is now one step closer to reopening—not as a prison, but as an ICE detention center. Last week, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released a 2,731-page environmental impact report that confirms what critics have long feared: the facility is a toxic, hazardous site unfit for human habitation.

The report details a leaking sewage system, contamination from diesel fuel, asbestos, lead paint, and pervasive mold. These conditions pose serious health risks to anyone detained there. Susan Beaty, an attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, called the facility “unsafe, uninhabitable, and in desperate need of tens of millions of dollars in repairs.” Yet, rather than demolishing the site, the report’s recommendation to permanently close the prison could ironically clear the way for the General Services Administration to transfer it to the Department of Homeland Security for conversion into an immigration detention center.

Former inmate Aimee Chavira recounted the grim reality inside FCI Dublin, where she was forced to paint over mold before inspections and drink brown, rust-stained water that made many sick. “This prison is not livable for anyone,” Chavira said. Now, she and local activists are urging the community to oppose the reopening plan and demand demolition instead. “Do we want these horrible things happening in our backyard? The Dublin community needs parks, warehouses, a Costco—not another detention facility,” she insisted.

Despite unanimous opposition from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, which passed a resolution condemning the plan, the federal government holds the final say. The Bureau of Prisons is accepting public comments until June 1, but its next steps remain unclear. The ICE Out of Dublin Coalition and immigrant rights groups are mobilizing residents to submit feedback demanding the facility’s destruction, not reuse.

This move to repurpose a site notorious for abuse and toxicity into an ICE detention center fits a broader pattern of the Trump administration’s relentless expansion of for-profit immigration detention, often at the expense of human rights and community well-being. Dublin’s toxic prison should not become another grim chapter in that story.