SB 423, the Detention Facility Transparency Act, authored by Senator Lena Gonzalez, would require public agencies to release more records showing what happens inside California’s privately operated immigration detention facilities. Specifically, it would ensure better access to 911 calls and related records, which has been crucial in many states in providing better oversight of immigration detention. The bill includes privacy protections that allow agencies to withhold certain records when disclosure would substantially interfere with an active investigation.

SB 423 responds to serious problems that too often remain hidden from public view:

• Thousands are held with little public accountability. About 6,400 people are detained in California immigration detention facilities every day. Recent data show that nearly three-quarters have no criminal record.
• Conditions have raised grave concerns. Attorney General Bonta has called conditions “cruel, inhumane, and unacceptable.” Six people died in California detention facilities between September 2025 and March 2026, the highest number since state reviews began in 2017.
• People in detention cannot simply leave unsafe conditions. They depend on facility staff and outside authorities to protect them and investigate abuse and mistreatment.
• Serious allegations can disappear behind secrecy. At Otay Mesa, the San Diego County Sheriff did not investigate at least seven reported sexual assaults in 2025 under an agreement that gave the privately run facility authority over whether the allegations would be investigated. When reporters sought more public records, the Sheriff’s Department refused to release them.

The right to humane treatment in custody does not depend on immigration status. California can protect transparency and accountability by ensuring that private detention companies cannot use secrecy to hide how people are treated.

P.S. Understand more about SB 423 by reading our co-sponsor letter here.