October 1, 2026 - SACRAMENTO – On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 941. Authored by 
California State Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego), the bill would prohibit the excessive markup of products sold at private detention facilities in California.
In California, every ICE detainee is held in a private detention facility operated by a private corporation on private property under contract with the federal government. California is currently home to seven such facilities, including two located within Senator Padilla’s district.
Commissaries at such facilities are often operated by third-party vendors that set prices without meaningful oversight. Reports from oversight and advocacy organizations document excessive pricing and inadequate access to basic necessities in private detention facility commissaries: a bar of Irish Spring soap was marked up by 75%, ramen noodles by 100%, Colgate Baking Soda and Peroxide by 139%, and canned tuna by 300%.
Earlier this year, detainees at two ICE detention facilities in California, California City and Golden State Annex, held a boycott to protest increasing prices and gross profiteering at commissaries at these facilities.
“As Trump’s monstrous deportation policies rip families apart, it is unacceptable California companies hike up the price of basic goods, all to profit off the backs of detainees forced into inhumane conditions,” said Senator Padilla. “SB 941 prioritizes people over profits to ensure this type of corporate greed does not continue in California.”
SB 941 prohibits the sale of commissary items in private detention facilities at prices exceeding a 35 percent markup above vendor cost. This extends California’s existing commissary price protections, established under SB 474 (The BASIC Act), to ICE detention facilities.
SB 941 is sponsored by California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, the California Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General, and Immigrant Defense Advocates.
“Governor Newsom’s signing of SB 941 is a meaningful victory for people in detention and their families. Detained people themselves helped shine a light on abusive commissary prices through organized boycotts, and today California has responded by putting people before profit,” said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, Executive Director of California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. “Immigration detention is unjust and exploitative. This law creates an important protection to reduce that exploitation."
“With the signing of SB 941, private vendors will no longer be able to run up massive profits off of the desperation of immigrant detainees,” said Attorney General Bonta. “My office’s review of conditions at immigration detention facilities across California has found repeated failures to provide adequate clothes, food, and hygiene products for detainees. As California confronts the Trump Administration’s inhumane mass detention and deportation campaign, I’m grateful for Senator Padilla’s championship of SB 941 and the Governor’s support of this legislation.”
“SB 941 sends a clear message that California puts people before profits. Families with loved ones in detention should not be forced to pay inflated, predatory prices simply to provide basic necessities and maintain a sense of dignity during an already difficult time,” said Jackie Gonzalez, Co-Executive Director at Immigrant Defense Advocates. “By putting reasonable limits on commissary markups, this bill protects California families from exploitation and ensures that private companies cannot profit unchecked off people’s hardship and separation.”
Senate Bill 941 passed both houses of the Legislature with bipartisan support last month.
To learn more about Senate Bill 941 and the unjust markups that detainees face within private detention facilities, click here.
Steve Padilla represents the 18th Senate District, which includes the communities of Chula Vista, the Coachella Valley, Imperial Beach, the Imperial Valley, National City, and San Diego. Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, Senator Padilla was the first person of color ever elected to city office in Chula Vista, the first Latino Mayor, and the first openly LGBT person to serve or be elected to city office. Website of Senator Steve Padilla: https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/
Source: Senator Steve Padilla