AFSC’s California Healing Justice program continues organizing with the Close California Prisons campaign to secure permanent prison closures and redirect public spending toward housing, health care, and community support. As the federal government expands immigration detention and seeks to reopen closed prisons, ensuring that these facilities never again imprison or detain people has become increasingly urgent.
Since 2021, California has closed four state-owned prisons, most recently the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on September 30, 2026. These closures—including facilities in Tracy, Susanville, and Blythe—are important victories. Yet this year’s state budget failed to commit to any additional prison closures, despite continued declines in the incarcerated population. With approximately $14.6 billion allocated to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), our coalition is pressing state leaders to close more prisons and invest the savings in communities.
Meanwhile, CDCR is advancing an infrastructure plan that would sustain California’s prison system for decades. The department’s assessment identifies billions of dollars in repairs and replacements over the next 20 years to maintain its current operations and footprint. Committing public funds to preserving this infrastructure would entrench California’s reliance on incarceration for another generation. State leaders must instead commit to reducing the prison population and permanently closing additional prisons.
The conversion of the California City Correctional Facility into an ICE detention center demonstrates why our work must continue beyond a prison’s closing date. After California ended its lease in 2024, the facility reopened for immigration detention in 2025. The federal government purchased it in July 2026. Our coalition secured an important victory with AB 137, which prohibits future incarceration or detention uses for state prison properties processed through California’s excess-property disposal procedure. We continue pressing the state to put these protections into practice.
We are also organizing with the ICE Out of Dublin campaign to prevent the reopening of the former federal prison at FCI Dublin. More than 7,500 public comments raised concerns about the property’s future, with many urging demolition. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Prisons concluded that its proposed transfer of the site would have no significant environmental impact.
That determination clears the way for a transfer to the General Services Administration, which could subsequently turn the property over to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration detention. The Bureau acknowledged that the facility requires substantial investment to meet standards for housing people, yet its decision leaves open the possibility of renewed detention or imprisonment at the site. Alongside our coalition partners, we are demanding demolition of the prison and organizing to ensure that the community’s demands are heard.
In the months ahead, we will press state leaders to commit to additional prison closures and reinvest the savings in community services, while continuing to organize against the conversion of closed prisons into immigration detention centers.