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On December 16, 2025, the Dublin City Council in California unanimously passed a resolution formally opposing reopening or reusing the notorious FCI Dublin prison for detention of any kind, including as an immigration jail. The resolution also urged the relevant federal agencies to “engage in open and transparent communication with the City regarding any decisions affecting the site.”

The resolution comes after months of organizing by local and regional residents and a coalition of faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, and those who were imprisoned in FCI Dublin.

That includes Darlene Baker, who was incarcerated at the Dublin federal prison camp from 2022 to 2023. There, she was sexually assaulted by then-medical officer Jeffrey Wilson.

“I suffered severe retaliation by Dublin officers and staff” for reporting the assault, she recounted in a letter to the Dublin City Council. Still, she continued to speak out. “During this time, I served as a whistleblower, forwarding details of abuse and neglect to former Congresswoman Jackie Speier who was actively investigating the ‘toxic culture’ of Dublin,” she continued.

In August 2025, Wilson and another officer pled guilty. They were the ninth and tenth staff members to be convicted of sexually abusing women imprisoned in Dublin.

As reported earlier by Truthout, FCI Dublin was abruptly shuttered in April 2024 following widespread coverage of rampant sexual abuse and the arrests of staff, from the warden and chaplain to more than half a dozen officers. In December 2024, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) agreed to a $116 million settlement for 103 survivors, including Baker. It is the largest settlement for sexual assault survivors in U.S. prison history.

In August 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) put out a request for information for available detention facilities within a two-hour commute of four urban areas in California, including San Francisco. The nearest ICE prisons are four to five hours away in Bakersfield.

In February 2025, ICE officials toured the closed prison. Since Donald Trump’s second inauguration, ICE has opened 59 new facilities and reopened 77 previously-closed sites to jail migrants.

When Baker learned that the prison, dubbed “the Rape Club” for the pervasive sexual abuse of prisoners, might be reopened as an immigrant prison, she was shocked.

“I learned the hard way while I was inside FCI Dublin Camp that the feds are not subject to the rules that the rest of us have to follow,” she wrote in an email to Truthout. “I was especially concerned about the vulnerable population of immigrants — with language difficulties, no due process, and limited access to legal assistance.”

Residents Spring Into Action

The city council resolution notes the ongoing opposition from longtime........

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