Dublin to oppose reopening women's prison for any detention operations
DUBLIN, Calif. - The Dublin City Council on Tuesday night is poised to pass a resolution that opposes turning the now-closed women's prison – FCI Dublin – into any kind of correctional facility in the future, like reopening it as another prison or ICE detention center.
"The City has consistently maintained that no form of detention operation is appropriate at the former FCI Dublin location, given its history of abuse, infrastructure deterioration, and associated impacts on the community," according to the staff recommendation presented to the council.
Largely symbolic
The resolution is largely symbolic. The city council has really no say about what the federal government can do with the land, which sits adjacent to Santa Rita Jail.
But it does put on record that the council is formally on record opposing such a proposal.
ICE out of California
The resolution comes at the request of several community groups, including ICE out of California, which had about 30 community members speak on the issue on Nov. 18.
The women's prison, which opened in 1974, was fully closed on Dec. 5, 2024, after the Bureau of Prisons said they couldn't change the sexualized culture there; 10 correctional officers there were charged with sex crimes and to date, all have been convicted except for one.
More than 100 women who were incarcerated won a $116 million lawsuit against the BOP last year, and the remaining women at the shuttered prison were scattered to other prisons around the country.
Earlier this year, KTVU reported that ICE officials had toured the vacant property to possibly turn it into a detention center, but that idea never came to fruition.
Interfaith activists held a rally to protest the now-closed FCI Dublin prison from turning into an ICE detention center. April 16, 2025
Since the closure, Dublin city officials said they have talked to both Congressional and state representatives, and sent letters to the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the BOP, reiterating their concerns regarding any future use of FCI Dublin for detention or correctional purposes.
BOP letters
This month, the BOP sent the Dublin City Council a letter stating that the agency has no plans to reopen FCI Dublin and there is no indication the facility will be repurposed for ICE.
That said, the BOP did update the council on Dec. 10 that while the agency is planning to permanently "deactivate, close and dispose" of FCI Dublin, at the same time, it is also divesting itself of the facility and transferring the property to the U.S. General Services Administration, or GSA, "for ultimate disposition."
The Dublin staff report notes that there has been "no information provided from any other federal agency, and no indication as to how FCI Dublin might be used in the future."