SACRAMENTO, CA – On June 12, 2026, Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) introduced Senate Bill (SB) 423, the Detention Facility Transparency Act, to improve access to information about civil rights violations, any alleged crime, and inhumane conditions in private detention facilities. The legislation would empower local and state officials, as well as members of the public, to better understand whether detention facilities are following applicable state and federal laws, and to hold them accountable when they violate the rights of people who are detained.

Specifically, SB 423 would amend the California Public Records Act to require local agencies to release records related to 911 calls and other calls for service from private detention facilities. This would help shine a light on how detention facilities are operating in California and ensure they are held accountable for violations of civil rights, crimes, or other inhumane treatment occurring within the facilities. The bill also includes safeguards to protect identifying information of crime victims and allows an agency to withhold certain information when there is an active investigation and disclosure would substantially interfere with that investigation.  

Earlier this year, Attorney General Bonta released a report on the conditions at immigration facilities in California, documenting cruel and inhumane conditions, worsening overcrowding and strained resources, especially around access to medical care and conditions of confinement since the current federal administration’s mass deportation agenda began. 

Reports of these conditions are sounding the alarm across the nation. The number of people held in detention centers has nearly doubled since early 2025, and those detained include long-term California residents, asylum seekers and, in some cases, U.S. citizens mistakenly placed in immigration detention. Between September 2025 and March 2026, there were six deaths at two of California’s private detention facilities.  ICE recently announced that they will no longer report the deaths of detainees who have recently been released from custody – even if the cause of death could have been an illness or incident that occurred while they were detained at the facility—making the Detention Facility Transparency Act more urgent than ever. 

“As a State Senator who represents many families who have been affected by the egregious overreach of the federal administration, it’s deeply disturbing and heartbreaking to see families ripped apart and forcibly taken to detention facilities, many of which are privately owned, for an unknown amount of time, where reports of civil rights violations and cruel treatment continue to surface. California families deserve dignity and justice. And these detention centers should be held accountable for their cruelty. The Detention Facility Transparency Act will require 911 calls to be included in Public Records Act requests, helping shine a light on unjust treatment and horrendous conditions and giving us more tools to fight these crimes against humanity,” said Senator Lena Gonzalez.

“No facility that profits from human confinement should be allowed to operate in darkness. This bill shines a necessary light into California’s for-profit detention facilities by giving the public access to complaints, emergency calls, and reports of harm that too often remain hidden. Transparency is the first step toward accountability,” said Jackie Gonzalez, Co-Executive Director of Immigrant Defense Advocates.   

“The public deserves to know what’s happening inside private detention facilities run with public money,” said Ginny LaRoe, Advocacy Director of the First Amendment Coalition. “This bill will ensure journalists and others have access to the critical information necessary to document what people in confinement are experiencing.”

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Senator Lena Gonzalez proudly represents one million residents in California’s 33rd Senate District, which encompasses Southeast Los Angeles, the City and Port of Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, and Catalina Island. She serves as Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus and is a dedicated advocate on key priorities that impact Californians from economic development and environmental justice to LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, digital equity and more. Senator Gonzalez has championed major policies, including broadband for all, expanding paid sick leave, advancing clean transportation incentives, and ending neighborhood oil drilling. She lives in Long Beach with her family. To learn more, visit www.sen.ca.gov/gonzalez.

Immigrant Defense Advocates (IDA) is a California-based policy project working to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of immigrant communities through legal advocacy, policy reform, and community-centered defense. IDA advocates for transparency and accountability in systems that detain, surveil, and separate immigrant families.

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest organization working across California to defend free speech, a free press and the people's right to know.