An Otay Mesa Detention Center death or harm at California City: what your family can do

If you are dealing with an Otay Mesa Detention Center death, or someone you love was seriously harmed at the California City Detention Facility, we are very sorry. Many families hear about it late, from a phone call or a news story, and get few clear answers from ICE or the company that runs the building.

This guide is about those two facilities. Both are run by CoreCivic, a private prison company, for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We explain what state inspectors, a federal court monitor and San Diego County found inside, what families have done in past cases, and how the deadlines work when a private company and the federal government are both involved. For the wider picture across California, including Adelanto and Imperial, see our guide to deaths in ICE detention in California. You can also ask for a free, confidential review at any time.

Otay Mesa Detention Center deaths and California City: what the records show

Facility	Otay Mesa Detention Center (San Diego) · California City Detention Facility (California City, Kern County)
Operated by	CoreCivic, under ICE contracts. The federal government bought both buildings in July 2026, and CoreCivic still runs them (inewsource, July 2026)
Location	Otay Mesa, near the border in San Diego · California City, in the Mojave Desert
Population	Otay Mesa: 1,433 on Oct. 6, 2025, against 1,142 maximum ICE beds (California DOJ); about 1,170 in April 2026 (KPBS) · California City: 2,560 beds; 942 on Nov. 19, 2025 (California DOJ); nearly 1,500 in July 2026 (ACLU)
Deaths in custody	Otay Mesa: deaths in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2023 are publicly reported (AILA; Times of San Diego); none reported during the current administration as of June 2026 (KPBS), and none on AILA's list through early August 2026 · California City: no deaths found in public records as of October 2026
Oversight	California Attorney General inspections (AB 103); San Diego County health inspection (June 2026); federal court monitor at California City (2026)

Otay Mesa Detention Center

Otay Mesa has held more people than its contract calls for. According to the California Attorney General's 2026 report, it held 1,433 people on October 6, 2025, more than its 1,142 maximum ICE beds. During surges, people slept on cots or plastic "boats" in housing areas, and some units had too few toilets. Otay Mesa was also the only California facility with a policy of strip-searching people after every non-legal contact visit. KPBS reported that the population was about 500 in 2021 and about 1,170 in April 2026.

Medical strain has grown with the population. Ambulance calls from Otay Mesa tripled from 2021 to 2025, and hospital stays for detainees in San Diego more than doubled from 2024 to 2025, according to Times of San Diego and inewsource. Reports about doctors differ: two members of Congress said in April 2026 there were two doctors for more than 1,000 people, while the state report counted five doctors, not all full time. The same newsroom found nearly 70 court filings raising health or medical-care concerns at Otay Mesa.

California City Detention Facility

California City is a former state prison. ICE began sending people there in August 2025, and it is now the largest ICE detention center in California, with 2,560 beds. The Attorney General's office found that it "opened prematurely and was not ready to accept detainees." It described "crisis-level health care understaffing," with one physician and no backup consistently available. Medical intake exams were late or "dropped altogether." People described extreme cold and leaks, and some were written up for covering vents with paper.

In a separate review, a monitor appointed by a federal judge found in July 2026 that the facility "lacks a reliable system to consistently provide adequate health care" and called it "an unsafe environment," according to the ACLU. The monitor reviewed 141 medical records and listed 13 areas of deficiency, KPBS reported, including emergency care and delays in getting prescribed medicine. CoreCivic has said the facility provides daily medical and mental health services and emergency care at all hours.

What usually goes wrong in these two facilities

The problems that come up in official reports are mostly about medical care, not violence:

• Medicine that is late or missed. At California City, the monitor found people did not get timely access to prescribed medicine. At Otay Mesa, reporting described people with diabetes going without insulin or regular medication after arrival.
• Referrals that never happen. The state report found specialty-care referrals at Otay Mesa were poorly tracked, so they "do not always occur." Medical records there were "disorganized."
• Missed intake screening. At California City, intake exams were late or skipped, which is when chronic illness and withdrawal risks should be caught.
• Disease reporting. San Diego County's health inspection, released in August 2026, found that two suspected tuberculosis cases at Otay Mesa were not reported by the facility's medical staff and that the facility was unresponsive for weeks. It also found one detainee had not received a needed medical device 18 months after arrival. The county said conditions were otherwise generally within state standards.

Earlier federal findings point the same way. A 2021 unannounced inspection by the Homeland Security Inspector General found violations at Otay Mesa that "compromised the health, safety, and rights of detainees," including COVID-19 precautions that were not enforced and grievances not answered on time. That report found medical care generally sufficient at the time.

Who can be held responsible

• CoreCivic. CoreCivic runs both facilities and, at Otay Mesa, took over the medical unit from ICE in 2020, according to Voice of San Diego. As a private company, it can be sued under California law for wrongful death and negligence. The July 2026 sale of the buildings to the federal government did not change who operates them, so CoreCivic remains the company responsible for day-to-day care.
• Individual staff. Officers and medical staff can sometimes be named under California law.
• The United States. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the government can be responsible for what ICE's own employees did, such as custody, transfer or medical-approval decisions. It is generally not responsible for a contractor's mistakes, which is why the company matters so much.

Civil-rights claims work differently here than in a county jail. The Supreme Court does not allow Bivens damages claims against a private prison company, or against its employees where state law gives a remedy, and claims against federal officers are now very hard to bring. The federal law used against county jails, Section 1983, generally does not reach federal officers. So families usually rely on an FTCA claim plus a California case against CoreCivic.

The two class actions mentioned in this guide are different from a family's damages case. The California City case, Ruiz v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was filed in November 2025 by seven detainees in federal court in Northern California. On February 10, 2026, Judge Maxine M. Chesney provisionally certified a class and granted a preliminary injunction in part, according to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. The order called for an independent medical monitor, access to lawyers and clothing suited to the cold, according to the Prison Law Office. The monitor's July 28, 2026 report found that ICE was not complying with that order, the ACLU said. We found no later public ruling in the case as of October 2026. That case seeks better conditions. It does not pay families for a death or injury.

What families have done after deaths at Otay Mesa

• Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía, 57, died of COVID-19 in May 2020 after being held at Otay Mesa, the first person in ICE custody to die of COVID-19, according to AILA's death list. His family sued CoreCivic and ICE officials in federal court in San Diego. In September 2021, the court allowed negligence and wrongful-death claims against CoreCivic to go forward, according to the court's order. Prison Legal News lists a 2024 wrongful-death settlement in the family's case against the United States. The amount was not publicly available in the sources we reviewed.
• Gerardo Cruz-Sánchez died in February 2016, about three weeks after he was taken to Otay Mesa. His family sued the federal government, CoreCivic and an officer in 2018, alleging staff ignored his pleas for help as he became seriously ill. The case went to trial in federal court in March 2022, Times of San Diego reported. The government and CoreCivic denied the allegations. We did not find a reported outcome.

Recent settlements and verdicts

The only reported result we could verify for these two facilities is the 2024 settlement in the Escobar Mejía family's case against the United States, and its amount was not public. We found no reported verdict against CoreCivic for a death or injury at Otay Mesa or California City, which has held people for ICE only since August 2025. Every case is different. Past results, including those of other firms, do not predict the outcome of any other case. Our jail death settlements and verdicts page collects reported results across California.

Hurt in custody, not killed?

Most people harmed at these two facilities survive. Reports from both facilities describe people going without insulin or other prescribed medicine and specialist referrals that never happened. When that causes lasting harm, it can be medical neglect, and it can support a claim against the United States under the FTCA and a California injury case against CoreCivic, generally within two years.

A conditions case like Ruiz asks a court to fix how a facility runs. It does not pay one person for an injury. Read our guides to medical neglect in custody and being denied medication in custody, or ask for a free, confidential review.

How long do you have? The deadlines

• Against the United States. A written claim, usually Standard Form 95 with a specific dollar amount, must be presented to the agency within two years. The agency then has six months to decide. If it denies the claim in writing, a lawsuit generally must follow within six months. FTCA cases are tried to a judge, not a jury.
• Against CoreCivic. California wrongful-death and injury claims against a private company generally must be filed within two years. Claims about medical care can have shorter limits and a notice step, so waiting is risky.
• California's six-month rule. The six-month government claim (Government Code § 911.2) applies to California counties, cities and the State. It usually does not apply here. It can matter if a California public agency was involved, for example if the person was first held in a San Diego County jail. Our guide to deaths in the San Diego County jails explains that claim.

After a death, the estate can bring a claim for what the person went through before dying. Close family members, such as a spouse or children, and in some cases parents or others who depended on the person, can bring a wrongful-death claim. Family members who live outside the United States may still have rights.

What to do in the first weeks

1. Ask for the autopsy report from the San Diego County Medical Examiner or the Kern County Coroner, depending on where the death happened. Our guide to getting autopsy records and video explains how.
2. Do not sign anything from ICE, CoreCivic or an insurance company before talking to a lawyer.
3. Write down what you know: the person's A-number if you have it, dates of arrest and transfer, the hospital name, and the names of other detainees who saw what happened.
4. Keep every message, including voicemails, texts, detention phone or tablet messages, and commissary records.
5. Talk to a lawyer early. We send preservation letters to CoreCivic and the government for video, sick-call requests, medical records and ambulance logs, and we can prepare the Standard Form 95.

How LaCour handles these cases

LaCour Trial Lawyers is a trial firm, and a partner leads each death-in-custody case. We take cases across California, including San Diego and Kern counties, and our lawyers speak Spanish. There is no fee unless there is a recovery. Learn more about our police misconduct and wrongful death in custody practice.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information about California and federal law and about public records as of its date. It is not legal advice, and reading it or contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Allegations in lawsuits are claims, not findings. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.