Scabies outbreak hits ICE detention center in California's Central Valley. What's being done?

Melissa Montalvo, The Fresno Bee on Dec 23, 2025

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FRESNO, Calif. — A scabies outbreak at a Kern County ICE detention facility is prompting renewed calls for more oversight of health and sanitary conditions at the county’s three detention facilities.

Officials for The GEO Group, the private-prison operator that runs two detention centers of behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed Tuesday the contagious skin infestation at one of their two facilities in Kern County.

“GEO is diligently managing a small number of scabies cases at the Golden State Annex,” a GEO Group spokesperson said in a statement. “The cases are isolated to one housing dormitory, and all detainees are being proactively treated and issued new, clean clothing and bed linens,” the statement said.

The company said it took “appropriate steps” in coordination with ICE to ensure that cases did not spread outside that single dormitory.

“All affected detainees have been cleared of the disease,” the spokesperson said.

Kern County public health officials confirmed the outbreak but did not respond to specific questions about how many known cases there are or how the county is preventing further community spread.

“We are aware of several cases of scabies at Golden State Annex,” Kern County Public Health Department spokesperson Michelle Corson said in a statement.

“As part of standard public health practice, our department is collaborating closely with the facility’s medical staff to provide requested support and guidance to help prevent further transmission,“ she said.

Scabies are caused by a parasitic mite called Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. An infestation can happen when mites and parasites burrow under the top layer of a person’s skin to lay eggs and can stay there for one to two months, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Scabies spread through contact with the clothes, bedding, or towels of someone who has scabies and outbreaks are common in nursing-home and long-term care facilities, prisons and child care facilities, the department said.

The outbreak was first reported Friday by A23ABC Bakersfield.

Officials for ICE didn’t immediately respond to request for comment on the scabies outbreak.

Kern County is home to three of California’s seven ICE detention facilities, all of which have seen detainee population increases as President Donald Trump’s administration promises to carry out its immigration crackdown and deportation campaign. Congress approved in July an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration- and border enforcement-related funding over the next four fiscal years.

As of Dec. 11, there are 623 at the 700-bed capacity Golden State Annex, according to ICE statistics.

County-wide, the number of detained individuals has increased by 164% since June, driven by the opening of California’s largest ICE facility in California City as well as the lifting of pandemic-era population caps at the GEO Group-run detention center in Bakersfield.

Public health experts warn the increased detention population and relaxed oversight of detention facilities under the Trump administration could have “negative implications for conditions and health risks in detention centers.”

Advocates call for more county oversight

Kern County-based immigrant advocates say the county’s response to the outbreak is “inadequate.”

In a Dec. 19 letter to county officials, volunteers with the nonprofit Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants said the “severe” scabies outbreak jeopardized the health and welfare of detainees and urged county officials to conduct more oversight.

“What is urgently needed is for the Kern County Public Health Department to go to Golden State Annex and investigate the critically serious conditions,” the letter said.

Under state law, county and city health officials have the authority to investigate health and sanitary conditions at private detention facilities.

An Oct. 2 report by nonprofit newsroom CalMatters found that Kern County public health officials had “no intention" to use this inspection authority.

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