California’s public record laws are focused on a basic principle: a lack of transparency hurts the public interest and leads to abuses of power. That principle has served as a bedrock for democracy, oversight and accountability. These issues are particularly important in the context of private, for-profit detention facilities used to detain immigrants – facilities that perform a governmental function while operating without the same transparency and accountability requirements that apply to public entities.
There are eight privately operated detention facilities in California, housing thousands of individuals awaiting civil proceedings related to immigration – or in some cases, U.S. citizens who have been wrongfully detained. Reports from state inspectors, advocates, and detained people have repeatedly documented troubling conditions in these facilities, including inadequate medical care, unsanitary living conditions, prolonged isolation, and failures to protect detainees from abuse and neglect. All of these problems have been shrouded in secrecy and darkness, without proper transparency or oversight.
The California Department of Justice conducts much-needed annual reviews of facility conditions pursuant to state law, but a one-day snapshot of facility conditions each year cannot capture the full extent of the atrocities occurring the rest of the year.
Much of the information we do have about how private detention facilities are operating in our state comes from information obtained under the California Public Records Act. When we have been able to access records pertaining to these facilities, the revelations have been damning.
Public records documented gaps in public health oversight during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Otay Mesa, records obtained from local public health officials revealed communications with the facility’s private operator during an outbreak of COVID-19 that spread to more than 300 people in the facility. The correspondence showed how easily private operators dismissed public health guidance, which ultimately helped guide state policy efforts focused on improving public health oversight in private facilities.
Stories like this show the importance of shining a light into the darkness of detention. However, under the current federal administration’s dramatic expansion of detention facilities, concerns about transparency and accountability have only grown as reported deaths, sexual abuse, and other serious allegations increase.
A recent CalMatters investigation found that the warden at a privately operated detention facility in San Diego signed an MOU with local law enforcement, providing the private corporation the authority to investigate rape allegations at the facility. The investigation uncovered more than 150 calls from the private facility in 2025. Yet, because of a gap in the California Public Records Act, journalists were denied access to audio recordings and full dispatch logs that would have provided greater transparency into horrific incidents occurring in the facility.
That is why I’m authoring SB 423, the Detention Facility Transparency Act. The bill would ensure that records related to emergency calls from these facilities, including 911 calls or other calls for emergency services, are accessible through public records requests. Rather than leaving disclosure at the discretion of local agencies, which have at times exploited loopholes in current law, SB 423 would make it clear: 911 records must be disclosed. Public records should be made accessible whenever possible, while recognizing appropriate exceptions when necessary to protect safety, privacy, or ongoing investigations.
SB 423 ensures that journalists and public interest entities investigating allegations of abuse can access the records necessary to uncover systemic problems, promote accountability, and give the public a clear understanding of what is happening inside detention facilities in our communities. Transparency is essential when private facilities are carrying out a governmental function, and the public should not be left in the dark about how that responsibility is being exercised.
I have worked with advocates to make SB 423 impactful but also laser focused. It is intentionally narrowly tailored, preserving protections for victim privacy and active investigations while preventing overly broad exemptions that shield private facilities from operating transparently and with accountability.
As the bill sits on the governor’s desk, I urge Governor Gavin Newsom to sign SB 423 and refuse to let these facilities continue operating in the dark. Governor Newsom has understood the problems posed by private prisons and detention facilities in our state. In 2019, he signed AB 32 (Bonta, Chapter 739), which sought to prohibit the operation of private detention facilities in California. The following year, he signed AB 3228 (Bonta, Chapter 190), a bill focused on ensuring accountability at privately operated detention facilities when operators violate their own standards.
SB 423 provides him with an opportunity to shine a lasting light on the darkness that is private detention and ensure that the realities inside these facilities are no longer hidden from public view, continuing a legacy of meaningful change in California.
Lena Gonzalez is the chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus and represents the 33rd Senate District, including Long Beach and Southeast Los Angeles.