BOP acknowledges 7.5K people want to demolish FCI Dublin prison
Powerless in Prison: Surviving Sex Abuse
Over the course of eight months, KTVU has spoken with more than three dozen women who say they have been sexually assaulted or witnessed such abuse at FCI Dublin. Many who spoke up were retaliated against.
DUBLIN, Calif. - Nearly two years after the women's federal prison was permanently closed, the Bureau of Prisons released a final report on the issue, concluding that FCI Dublin should be deactivated and is no longer needed for incarceration, citing how much money it would be to operate and maintain the sprawling facility.
FCI Dublin should be deactivated permanently: BOP
What we know:
Interfaith activists held a rally to protest the now-closed FCI Dublin prison from turning into an ICE detention center. April 16, 2025
Most of the conclusions in the 9-page, Sept. 2 report signed by BOP Director William K. Marshall III, were not surprising to close observers of FCI Dublin, which closed in 2024 after a massive sex abuse scandal that led to the conviction of nine correctional officers, including its former warden.
But the report is yet another step to formally deciding what will be next for the abandoned 87-acre property, which has been growing weeds and sitting empty for the last two years. The property, at 5701 8th Street in Dublin, houses 40 buildings comprising more than 304,000 square feet of floor space.
In an earlier report, the BOP noted it would cost $118 million over 10 years to repair and modernize those out-of-date structures.
7,500 nearly unanimous
What they're saying:
Hundreds protest shuttered FCI Dublin prison becoming ICE detention center
Hundreds of people turned out Saturday afternoon, protesting near the now-closed federal women's prison in Dublin where some fear it may become an ICE detention center.
What was notable is that the BOP report revealed that 7,500 people wrote in to comment about the closure of the prison.
Virtually all the comments, the BOP noted, were "near unanimous in their opposition to the facility being used again to house inmates or detainees or be used by another agency for purposes of incarceration." The BOP stated that most people wanted to demolish the facility to "ensure it could never again be used for such purposes."
Activists have held protests and rallies over the last two years, making public these very same sentiments.
California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice senior attorney Susan Beaty, who represents many of the incarcerated women who used to be housed at FCI Dublin, was surprised at how many people wrote in to voice their near-unanimous opinions.
"Even by the BOP's own admissions," Beaty said on Thursday, "thousands of people do not want a detention center in their backyard."
What's next is unclear
What we don't know:
Final FCI Dublin officer sentenced in biggest sex abuse scandal at U.S. prison
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said Jeffrey Wilson, 32, of Eureka, Calif., a former prison medic at FCI Dublin, should spend 4.3 years in prison for sex crimes.
What's next for the site is not yet clear.
The Department of Homeland Security has told KTVU on multiple occasions that it does not have plans to turn the former prison into an ICE detention center.
But the report does reiterate that FCI Dublin will transfer the property to the U.S. General Services Administration. And "any further action taken by GSA is outside the scope" of the BOP.
The GSA will then "determine whether they will accept the property, and assess its potential for reuse by federal or non-federal agencies," the report concludes.
Beaty noted that the GSA has been quite active in seeking new properties for immigration, and therefore "it's reasonable to still fear" that FCI Dublin could still be used for detention in some manner.
"This report just makes it one step closer to that," Beaty said.
The Source: Information for this story comes from a BOP report, prior KTVU reporting and an interview with CCIJ attorney Susan Beaty.