A startling investigative report published on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, revealed that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has ceded the investigation of sexual assault allegations at the Otay Mesa Detention Center to CoreCivic, the private for-profit contractor that runs the facility.
Records obtained by CalMatters show that in 2025 alone, at least seven reported rapes went uninvestigated by local law enforcement because a 2020 agreement gives the facility's warden the authority to decide when, or if, to involve the police.
The lack of oversight currently stands as a primary concern for California lawmakers and civil rights advocates.
Its primary mandate involves a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in 2020, which stipulates that the warden is responsible for investigating allegations of sexual abuse.
“Under the MOU... the facility’s Warden is responsible for investigating any allegation of sexual assault or abuse,” confirmed Lt. David Collins of the Sheriff’s Department.
He noted that because CoreCivic "did not request our involvement" for any cases last year, no reports were ever sent to the District Attorney for potential prosecution.
The controversy will also absorb and expand upon a heated public exchange between the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Kelly Martinez.
A critical component of the debate is the Sheriff's claim that her department lacks the "staff capacity" to investigate every allegation at the 1,500-detainee facility.
“I completely understand your concern, and that it doesn’t look like it’s an appropriate way to investigate these complaints,”_ _Sheriff Martinez stated during a Tuesday hearing, though she laughed while suggesting she would need more funded positions to create a dedicated investigative unit.
One of the most immediate challenges for the county is the legal wall surrounding these incidents.
Observers cited the "troubling" lack of transparency as the primary reason for an ongoing lawsuit against CoreCivic and the Trump administration, which allegedly blocked public health inspections of the facility.
“We’re horrified but not surprised,” remarked Susan Beaty, an attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.
_ _“Local and state enforcement agencies have a responsibility to... hold accountable both ICE and private prison companies.”
The establishment of this "private investigation" protocol follows 159 calls for service to the Otay Mesa facility in 2025, twenty-one of which were related to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
While CoreCivic maintains it has a "zero tolerance policy," the emphasis remains on the fact that these are administrative, not criminal, investigations.
Director-level supervisors pledged to continue pressing the Sheriff's Department for a new MOU that requires law enforcement to investigate every criminal allegation regardless of the warden's request.
As the legal battle over Otay Mesa intensifies, the question remains: “How can a private, for-profit company be trusted to police itself when billions of taxpayer dollars are at stake?”, a question that will dominate San Diego's political landscape this spring.