MCC San Diego: Visiting Hours, Legal Visits, Mail & Money

By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

MCC San Diego at a glance

MCC San Diego is a federal jail: the Bureau of Prisons’ administrative-security Metropolitan Correctional Center, a high-rise at 808 Union Street in downtown San Diego and one of the federal prisons in California. It held 565 people as of September 2026, men and women, most of them defendants whose cases are pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, across the street.

Official name	Metropolitan Correctional Center, San Diego
BOP code	SDC
Security level	Administrative; men and women
Population	565 (as of September 2026)
Visiting	Friday–Monday, 8:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. · legal visits daily, 7:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Inmate mail	Inmate’s committed name and register number · Metropolitan Correctional Center · 808 Union Street · San Diego, CA 92101
Send money	Lockbox · Western Union (code city FBOP, DC) · MoneyGram (receive code 7932)
Phone	619-232-4311 · Fax 619-595-0390
Street address	808 Union Street, San Diego, CA 92101 · San Diego County
Judicial district	Southern District of California
BOP region	Western
Designated capacity	582
Housing	9 units: 6 with multi-person cells, 3 open dormitories; none single-cell
Special Housing Unit	Yes; 40 segregation cells
Medical care level	Level 2
Mental health care level	Level 2
RDAP	None
UNICOR	See education, work, and reentry

Besides pretrial defendants, it holds material witnesses, people waiting to be sentenced or moved to a prison, and a small sentenced work cadre. It belongs to the Bureau’s Western Region and is one of the ten institutions the Bureau lists as its Pretrial Detention Facilities. What sets it apart from the other nine is the building itself: a July 2023 Justice Department review found it was the only one of the ten without dedicated rooms for confidential attorney-client meetings, so lawyers and families share the visiting room on each housing floor.

Is MCC San Diego the same as the other downtown San Diego jails?

No: MCC San Diego is the only Bureau of Prisons institution in the city, but federal defendants in San Diego are also held in contract jails used by the U.S. Marshals Service, and the county runs its own jail downtown. Confirm which building the person is in before you mail money or make the drive:

Facility	Run by	How to find someone
MCC San Diego, 808 Union Street (this page)	Federal Bureau of Prisons	Bureau Inmate Locator; 619-232-4311
Western Region Detention Facility, 220 West C Street	The GEO Group, for the U.S. Marshals Service; capacity 770, according to GEO	Ask defense counsel or the Marshals; the Bureau’s locator may show only “Not in BOP Custody”
Otay Mesa Detention Center, southeastern San Diego	CoreCivic, holding immigration and Marshals detainees in nearly 2,000 beds; sold to the Department of Homeland Security, inewsource reported in July 2026	Ask defense counsel or the holding agency; the same locator caveat applies
San Diego Central Jail, 1173 Front Street	San Diego County Sheriff	The Sheriff’s “Who’s In Jail” search; 619-409-5000

It is a jail in function, not a federal prison: its 2026 audit describes “a pretrial detention facility with high inmate turnover and generally short lengths of stay,” and people sentenced here usually wait as holdovers until the Bureau moves them to a designated prison. “San Diego Detention Center,” a name some listings give it, is not a name the Bureau’s documents use.

The 23-story tower opened in December 1974 and connects by underground passageways to the Schwartz and Carter/Keep courthouses, according to the federal court’s walking tour, which says MCC San Diego, with MCC New York and MCC Chicago, “represented the first shift within the Bureau of Prisons to a new generation of high-rise prison buildings.” The building’s age shows in a September 2023 Inspector General audit, where a contracting official said the kitchen had gone without a structural inspection “since the facility was built in 1974,” and an appendix pictures the “Basement Kitchen Damage at Metropolitan Correctional Center San Diego.”

Who is held at MCC San Diego, and for how long?

MCC San Diego mostly holds people whose federal cases are still open, including detainees held for the U.S. Marshals Service and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to its 2026 audit. The Bureau’s rules for pretrial inmates, Program Statement 7331.05, treat anyone legally detained without a notice of conviction as a pretrial inmate, including material witnesses, people held for civil contempt, and deportable noncitizens, in a definition taken from 28 C.F.R. § 551.101. After a guilty plea or verdict the person becomes an “unsentenced holdover,” and after sentencing a holdover until arriving at the prison the Bureau designates.

The turnover is heavy. In the 12 months before the auditor arrived in March 2026, MCC San Diego admitted 6,408 people; 1,209 of them stayed 30 days or more, and the average stay was 130 days. On March 24, 2026, the building held 589 people aged 18 to 79, including 68 with limited English proficiency, and the auditor recorded Spanish as its second most common language. The population was 565 as of September 2026, below the designated capacity of 582 in that audit, which also says the building exceeded capacity at some point in the prior year, when the average daily population was 601. Other capacity figures measure different things: the court’s undated walking tour says the tower “holds up to 1048” prisoners, and the San Diego Union-Tribune gave 879 in August 2021. Listings that give “approximately 860” are out of date.

The tower does not suit everyone. In the 2023 Justice Department review, MCC San Diego said people with mobility disabilities are not assigned there because of “unique infrastructure limitations,” although one defense lawyer reported a paraplegic client (report at 51 n.96), and the 2026 audit found no one with a physical disability in the building. If a relative uses a wheelchair, raise placement with defense counsel and the Marshals early.

The court upstairs has a border docket: of the 2,661 people the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted as sentenced in the district in fiscal year 2025, 52.2 percent were sentenced for immigration offenses and 33.1 percent for drug trafficking, against 37.7 and 24.3 percent nationally (the Commission’s statistical packet for the district, fiscal year 2025, table 1). Those figures describe sentencings, not the jail’s population.

MCC San Diego also holds material witnesses — people detained to secure their testimony, whom Bureau rules count as pretrial inmates. Federal law bars detaining a witness who cannot meet release conditions “if the testimony of such witness can adequately be secured by deposition, and if further detention is not necessary to prevent a failure of justice” (18 U.S.C. § 3144), and the August 2026 supplement gives their lawyers a daily walk-in window from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.

What is the security level at MCC San Diego?

MCC San Diego is an administrative-security institution: it holds people for the court whatever custody level a sentence might later produce, and the federal court’s walking tour describes it as holding prisoners “of all security levels.” Pretrial detainees are ordinarily supervised as if classified “In” custody; the Warden can raise that by memorandum, but lowering it takes the regional director’s approval (28 C.F.R. § 551.105; Program Statement 7331.05 at 13). An initial assessment of each new pretrial detainee must be completed within 48 hours of admission, and the unit team must schedule a first review within 21 calendar days of arrival and hold reviews at least every 90 days after that (at 10, 14–15). After sentencing, notices of any rule violations go to the Designation and Sentence Computation Center “to facilitate the appropriate institution designation” (at 19), so an incident report written here can shape where a sentence is served. Our guides explain security levels and designation.

The Bureau’s 2024 care-level charts place MCC San Diego at Care Level 2 on the medical chart and at Mental Health Care Level 2 on its undated companion chart. A detainee with serious medical or psychiatric needs should make sure defense counsel has the records early; our pages on care levels and medical designations explain the scale.

Can a detention order be revisited while someone is held here?

Yes: while someone is held at MCC San Diego, a magistrate judge’s detention order can be reopened, reviewed by the district court, or eased by temporary release under three provisions of the Bail Reform Act:

• Reopening. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3142(f), the hearing may be reopened “at any time before trial” on information that was not known to the movant at the time of the hearing and that has a material bearing on whether conditions of release could assure appearance and safety. The motion has to rest on something new, such as a custodian or a treatment placement.
• Review. Under § 3145(b), a person detained by a magistrate judge may ask the district court to revoke or amend the order, and the motion “shall be determined promptly.”
• Temporary release. Under § 3142(i), a judge may permit temporary release in the custody of the Marshals or another appropriate person when it is necessary to prepare the defense or for another compelling reason.

Does time at MCC San Diego count toward a sentence?

Ordinarily, yes: time at MCC San Diego counts toward a federal sentence as prior-custody credit. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b), a defendant receives credit for time “spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences” on the offense or on a later-arrest charge, if that time “has not been credited against another sentence.” In United States v. Wilson, 503 U.S. 329 (1992), the Supreme Court held that the credit is computed only after the sentence begins — “A district court, therefore, cannot apply § 3585(b) at sentencing” — and noted that after sentencing “the Attorney General, through BOP, has the responsibility for administering the sentence.” Credit for months at MCC San Diego therefore appears in the Bureau’s sentence computation, and errors — usually involving a state case, a writ, or overlapping custody — are found by reading that computation. See our guide to challenging a sentence computation.

First Step Act time credits are in flux. Until September 30, 2026, the Bureau’s regulation, 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a), says an eligible person “begins earning FSA Time Credits after the inmate’s term of imprisonment commences (the date the inmate arrives or voluntarily surrenders at the designated Bureau facility where the sentence will be served),” and the program statement that reprints it rules out credits during pretrial confinement or Marshals custody before that arrival (Program Statement 5410.01 at 13–14). The statute, § 3585(a), says a sentence commences when the defendant is “received in custody awaiting transportation to” that facility. In Huihui v. Derr, No. 1:22-cv-00541 (D. Haw. June 20, 2023), a federal district court in Hawaii concluded that the regulation conflicts with the First Step Act’s credit provision, 18 U.S.C. § 3632, and that a woman held at FDC Honolulu became eligible to earn credits on the day she was sentenced; it dismissed her petition but ordered the Bureau to count any qualifying credits from that date. In Miles v. Bowers, 173 F.4th 372 (1st Cir. 2026), decided April 27, 2026, the First Circuit held the arrival rule invalid and held that “A prisoner may earn FSA time credits for successful completion of pre-assessment programming even when housed outside a federal facility.” The Bureau has since moved: its interim final rule of August 31, 2026 (91 Fed. Reg. 55740), which takes effect September 30, strikes the arrival clause and cites Miles among the decisions it follows, leaving the text that an eligible person “begins earning FSA Time Credits after the inmate’s term of imprisonment commences.” According to the rule’s preamble, the change “allows inmates awaiting transportation to their designated facilities to begin FSA-approved programming,” yet it “does not mean that every eligible inmate will automatically begin earning Time Credits immediately after their sentence is imposed.” Time before sentencing still earns no credits (18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(B)(ii)). A sentenced holdover here should keep a record of approved classes or work done while waiting; the First Circuit framed the question as whether the Bureau can “track and verify” that participation. More in our guide to First Step Act time credits.

Who are the notable people held at MCC San Diego?

MCC San Diego has held several widely reported defendants, none of whom the Bureau’s Inmate Locator places there as of September 2026:

Person and register number	What ties them to MCC San Diego	Bureau record, September 2026
Leonard Glenn Francis (“Fat Leonard”), 45415-298	Navy bribery and fraud scandal; USNI News reported in January 2026 that district court records placed him at MCC San Diego when he filed his latest appeal	FCI Lompoc II; projected release August 31, 2030
Benjamin Arellano-Félix, 00678-748	The Los Angeles Times reported on April 29, 2011, that after his extradition from Mexico he was flown to San Diego and taken to “the downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center”	USP Coleman I, Florida; projected release April 28, 2032
Ryan Wedding, 10007-298	Former Olympic snowboarder; a Toronto Life profile republished by Longreads in August 2025 says he spent 17 months awaiting trial at MCC San Diego after a 2008 arrest	The only entry: “Not in BOP Custody as of” December 7, 2011 (the record gives the location as “IN TRANSIT”); CNN, carrying an Associated Press report, said in January 2026 that he pleaded not guilty to new charges in federal court in Santa Ana
Esteban Loaiza, 68072-298	Former Major League All-Star pitcher; Univision reported on March 19, 2018, that he was being held at MCC San Diego	“Not in BOP Custody as of” August 6, 2021; the record names FDC SeaTac

Lists that circulate online name former Border Patrol agents Raul and Fidel Villarreal as notable inmates here, but nothing places them at MCC San Diego. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced their 35- and 30-year sentences in June 2013, and as of September 2026 the locator showed Raul Villarreal (14218-298) at FCI Milan and Fidel Villarreal (14217-298) under RRM Long Beach. Loaiza is not a current inmate: the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported a 36-month sentence in March 2019, and the locator records his release in 2021. USNI’s January article also said Bureau records had recently shown Francis at Terminal Island, an institution no longer on the Bureau’s roster; the locator now lists FCI Lompoc II.

How do I find someone at MCC San Diego?

To find someone at MCC San Diego, search the Bureau’s Inmate Locator by register number, or by full first and last name. Someone held here shows as “Located at: San Diego MCC”; the facility code in the person’s record, SDC, does not appear on the screen. The locator covers Bureau custody only, so someone arrested yesterday may still be in a contract or county jail. It also rejects a surname on its own and can miss compound or hyphenated names: a search for “Arellano Felix” finds nothing until the hyphen is typed. If the search fails, ask defense counsel for the register number or call the institution at 619-232-4311; for county custody, use the Sheriff’s “Who’s In Jail” search. More tips are in our locator guide.

How do I write to someone at MCC San Diego?

Write to someone at MCC San Diego at the institution’s street address, with the person’s committed name and register number; the Bureau gives that address for inmate mail and parcels. The 2022 handbook prints the block this way:

Inmate’s committed name and register number
Metropolitan Correctional Center
808 Union Street
San Diego, CA 92101

The same handbook lists a separate post-office box for books that the Bureau’s current address listing does not include, so ask the institution before a bookseller ships anything. Its local rules: no Polaroid photographs; outgoing general mail stays unsealed and needs the TRULINCS address label, except from the Special Housing Unit and C-Unit; and writing to someone in another prison needs permission. Legal mail is opened only in the prisoner’s presence if the envelope names the sender and is marked “Special Mail — Open only in the presence of the inmate”; the national pretrial handbook adds that a lawyer must be identified “as ‘Attorney’,” because a firm name or “Esq.” is not enough. Rules that apply at every federal institution are in the Bureau’s correspondence rules and our guide to writing to a federal prisoner.

How do I send money to someone at MCC San Diego?

Money for someone at MCC San Diego goes through the Bureau’s national system, not the building: MoneyGram, Western Union, or a money order mailed to the Bureau’s lockbox. The Bureau’s Send Money page says to wait until the person “has physically arrived at a Federal Bureau of Prisons’ facility,” which for a recent arrest may not yet be MCC San Diego. Enter the details exactly as the Bureau prints them:

Method	What to enter	When it posts
MoneyGram ExpressPayment	Receive code 7932; company “Federal Bureau of Prisons”; city and state “Washington, DC”; account number = the eight-digit register number with no dash, then the last name (12345678DOE); beneficiary = full committed name. Online payments are capped at $300 and need a Visa or MasterCard credit card.	Sent 7:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Eastern: posted within 2–4 hours. Later: posted 7:00 a.m. Eastern the next day.
Western Union Quick Collect or Send2Corrections	Code city FBOP, DC; same account-number format; attention line = full committed name; by phone 1-800-634-3422, option 2.	Same posting times, seven days a week.
Mail to the lockbox	Money order, U.S. government check, cashier’s or certified check, or bank draft — no cash or personal checks — with the committed name and register number on the instrument and the envelope, to Federal Bureau of Prisons, [committed name], [register number], Post Office Box 474701, Des Moines, Iowa 50947-0001, with your return address.	Non-U.S.-postal money orders and non-government checks are held 15 days; foreign instruments, 45 days.

The institution’s 2022 handbook still gives Western Union as “City Code BOP” and “State Code DC”; the Bureau’s current page says “FBOP, DC,” so use that. The handbook also says money mailed to the institution is returned, and the 2026 visiting supplement forbids handing money to a prisoner and says the institution cannot accept deposits directly. Bureau staff answer questions about a specific deposit at 202-307-2712, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Our guide to sending money to federal prisoners has more.

What are the visiting hours at MCC San Diego?

Social visits at MCC San Diego run Friday through Monday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., with visitor processing from 7:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. and none between 1:30 and 2:00 p.m., under Institution Supplement SDC 5267.09D, Visiting Regulations, dated August 7, 2026. Each visit lasts one hour, is scheduled through the unit team, and takes place in the visiting room on the prisoner’s own floor; visitors not on that day’s approved list are turned away.

Visits are rationed by points: 8 a month for pretrial detainees and holdovers, 12 for people serving their sentence here. A weekday visit costs one point, a weekend or holiday visit two, and when the points run out there are no visits until the next month; newcomers get the full month’s points. Only one visit is allowed on an assigned day, with up to three visitors, not counting a child under two held on a lap. The supplement’s visitor handout, Attachment B, lists fixed start times — 8:00, 10:00, noon, 5:00, and 7:00 on weekdays, which it defines as Monday and Friday, and 8:00, 11:00, 1:00, 5:00, and 7:00 on weekends and holidays. For the Special Housing Unit, the document contradicts itself:

Rule	Body of the supplement	Attachment B
SHU social visiting days	Tuesday and Wednesday	Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday
End of SHU visitor processing	6:15 p.m.	6:00 p.m.
Points for a special visit	Charged “according to the regular schedule” unless waived	“an extra point”

Both versions carry the same date and nothing says which controls, so call before visiting someone in the SHU. Those visits are non-contact, with restraints removed and reapplied through the door slot; the Bureau’s Special Housing Unit rules and our page on Special Housing Units explain SHU placement.

Older schedules are still online. The April 2022 handbook gives evening visits on Monday, Thursday, and Friday and weekend visits from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., assigned by odd or even register numbers, and the undated pretrial handbook gives Monday evenings; the 2026 supplement replaced both. The Spanish supplement still on the Bureau’s server, unlinked from the facility page, is the rescinded 2023 edition.

The supplement says the Bureau’s Public Site Update Tool will show the status of visiting after a disruption. The national rules are in the Bureau’s visiting regulations and our general guide to federal prison visiting.

Getting on the visiting list

The prisoner mails each prospective visitor a Visitor Information form, BP-A0629, which the visitor returns by mail, with a copy of his or her identification, to the prisoner’s counselor. After a National Crime Information Center check, the first list ordinarily issues within seven days. For pretrial detainees, holdovers, and people awaiting designation, visiting is restricted to immediate family — a legal spouse, children, parents, stepparents, foster parents, brothers and sisters. Someone outside the family whom the prisoner knew before incarceration can be approved by the Unit Manager only “if no immediate family members are on the list,” although another passage allows “immediate family members or one friend”; these prisoners may change the list only every six months. The supplement adds a local rule: “Common-law relationships are not recognized under California law. Therefore, common-law spouses are not considered immediate family at MCC San Diego.” Sentenced cadre members may add up to ten other relatives or friends after a background check, although a different passage caps designated prisoners at ten visitors in all, family included. Visitors under 18 who come without an approved parent, guardian, or immediate-family member must be verified as immediate family and have a parent’s or guardian’s written consent on the BP-A0629.

What visitors can wear and bring

The dress code covers lawyers too. The supplement bars medical scrubs, bathing suits, sweatshirts and sweatpants, jackets not worn with a suit, shorts, leotards, stretch pants, tight, see-through, mesh, or backless clothing, low-cut blouses, crop, halter, tube, and tank tops, sleeveless tops without a jacket or cardigan, skirts or dresses more than three inches above the knee or with a high slit, torn clothing, hats, hoods, and scarves, solid white or gray T-shirts, khaki or green military-style clothing, and open-toe or open-back shoes, Crocs-style shoes and sandals included. Children under five may wear shorts. Underwire bras and clothing with large metal buttons or costume jewelry can be refused at the metal detector unless medically necessary, and smart watches, smart glasses, and fitness trackers are banned. The 2022 handbook’s one-inch skirt rule is obsolete.

Almost nothing comes in, and nothing is held for visitors: “Unauthorized items will not be stored,” and visitors “will not be authorized to place personal property in the Front Lobby,” so leave belongings elsewhere. Allowed items must fit in one clear bag no larger than 12 by 12 inches — two diapers, wipes, and two premade bottles for a baby, the visitor’s prescription glasses, and only life-preserving medication such as an inhaler or nitroglycerin, in a one-hour quantity. The visiting rooms have no restrooms, and anyone who leaves to find one is not readmitted. The institution provides a wheelchair for social visits, service dogs are allowed with notice to the unit team, and there is no children’s area because of “extreme space limitations.” Contact is limited to a handshake, brief embrace, and quick kiss at the start and end; no one may eat or drink except infants, and no papers may be examined or signed during a social visit.

Identification and screening

Everyone 16 and older, lawyers included, needs a valid government-issued photo ID, and the supplement is explicit that “Matricular identification cards issued by the Mexican Consulate are not considered valid for entrance.” Staff hold the ID in the Control Center during the visit. Every visitor signs the logbook, walks through the metal detector and has a hand stamped, and only executive staff, the duty officer, or the Operations Lieutenant may turn a visitor away. Most floors’ visiting rooms hold up to 12 people; when one fills, visitors for that floor wait outside the Front Lobby and are processed in arrival order as space opens.

Getting there

The institution is at the corner of Union and F Streets, across from the federal building and courthouse, reached from Interstate 5, State Route 163, and State Route 94. The supplement notes that “the Downtown Station is an Amtrak train station as well as the Trolley Station,” that visitors have no pay phones, and that rides should be arranged in advance.

How does a lawyer reach a client at MCC San Diego?

Lawyers can visit clients at MCC San Diego from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day; legal visits take priority over social visitors arriving at the same time, but they ordinarily happen in the visiting room on the client’s floor, not a private attorney room. Private third-floor meetings, Special Housing Unit visits, and anything unusual go through the institution’s Legal Department. The national rules are in our guide to attorney-client communication in the Bureau.

Legal visits in a building without attorney rooms

The Justice Department advisory group that reviewed the Bureau’s ten standalone pretrial facilities found that MCC San Diego “was the only pretrial facility in the scope of the review without dedicated visiting rooms for confidential attorney-client meetings” (report at 20). Each unit’s room served legal and social visits behind plastic partitions, one lawyer called the visits “cacophonous,” and the institution’s legal staff reported 727 legal and 137 social visits in the 30 days before the group’s interview, in rooms that could not hold more than ten people at a time. Confidential meetings had to be requested by email and were generally limited to 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., and the group recommended a site review of the building, including by an outside consultant.

The August 2026 supplement keeps the arrangement but adds structure. Two tables in each room are reserved for attorneys and moved under the camera during social hours, and when “privacy and a degree of separation” are needed a lawyer can book the third-floor visiting room through the Legal Department, or through the Operations Lieutenant or duty officer after hours. Apart from “the single, non-contact room for legal visits,” which is connected to the Special Housing Unit and has Plexiglas between lawyer and client (§ 26), it describes no dedicated attorney room.

At the lobby, a lawyer shows photo ID and a state bar card, lists every client on the Notification to Visitor form, and carries everything in one clear bag of about 22 by 14 by 9 inches. Documents for a client go in the Front Lobby’s legal mailbox, since papers may not be passed across the table. Clients are seen one at a time, and joint-defense meetings need written consent and approval from the Unit Manager, Captain, and Associate Warden for Programs. Paralegals, investigators, interpreters, and experts must be cleared on form BP-A0243 and may not enter without the sponsoring lawyer unless the lawyer asked in writing in advance, although Federal Defenders investigators may visit alone during attorney hours.

For a client in the Special Housing Unit, book ahead through the Legal Department, any day between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. In 2023 the review found SHU contact visits available only three days a week, yet lawyers considered them more confidential than ordinary legal visits (report at 53 & n.100). The same review praised the Legal Department’s “Attorney Guide,” which gathered its legal-access policies in one place and was available to lawyers on request (report at 10); the Bureau’s facility page does not link it, so ask for the current edition.

Laptops, electronic discovery, and the law library

The laptop rules have changed. In 2023 the review reported that MCC San Diego, like MDC Los Angeles, did not let attorneys bring in laptops “under any circumstances,” and that it was “the only facility that does not allow laptops even for court-ordered medical assessments” (report at 41–42). The Bureau’s legal activities rules, Program Statement 1315.08, issued May 7, 2026, now provide that “Attorneys and their approved legal assistants may bring a laptop to a legal visit at Bureau pretrial facilities for the sole purpose of facilitating the attorney-client relationship,” such as reviewing e-discovery, and that a warden who finds good cause to refuse “must document the reasons for the denial and confer with the Regional Counsel” first (at 14). The August 2026 supplement’s Attachment F now says legal visitors “are permitted to bring a laptop computer, tablet, and/or an external memory device,” with wireless off and no power cords.

Discovery must now arrive read-only on an external hard drive or USB drive, from defense counsel or the U.S. Attorney, after the Warden approves form BP-A1155; CDs and DVDs “are not authorized” (at 5), although the Bureau’s 2024 pretrial handbook still lists them. “Sensitive access” discovery, which the statement says is ordinarily subject to a protective or discovery order, may be in the client’s possession only during active viewing and must be reviewed in a private, secure area (at 6). The handbook’s paragraph for MCC San Diego — word for word the one printed for FDC SeaTac — says such material can be viewed only “in the Education Department Law library,” but it predates Program Statement 1315.08, which “Eliminates requirement to maintain physical law libraries” in favor of an electronic library on TRULINCS (at 1–2). Ask the Legal Department in writing where sensitive discovery is reviewed now.

Computer access has been the bottleneck. The 2023 review found that detainees had to request computer time, which Computer Services met by setting up a mobile standalone computer, and that defense lawyers described “considerable obstacles” in practice; two mobile workstations were available at legal visits on request, an option lawyers said they had never seen used (report at 39–40). Under the 2026 statement, discovery computers at pretrial facilities “should be placed in each housing unit, the SHU, and other locations as determined by the Warden” (at 6); counsel should ask where they are here. See our law library guide.

Legal calls and lockdowns

The Bureau’s pretrial handbook says all ten pretrial facilities have a phone on their pretrial units for brief, unmonitored calls to pre-programmed defense numbers; the 2023 review counted dedicated legal phones at eight of them. It found MCC San Diego was one of three, with MDC Los Angeles and FDC SeaTac, whose phones carried the numbers of every Federal Defender office with clients there and of CJA counsel, but noted the phones sit in the common area, so calls are unmonitored without being private (report at 29), and lawyers with clients here said that, in practice, legal calls were not available (at 30). A longer confidential call is requested in writing through TRULINCS, except from C-Unit and the SHU, and the 2022 handbook says staff cannot place international calls. The 510-minute monthly cap “does not apply to an inmate’s ability to place unmonitored legal telephone calls” (PS 5264.09 at 7).

In 2023 the federal defender office in San Diego told the review that lockdowns here “occasionally result in cancellation of legal visits,” with no legal calls offered instead (report at 50). The August 2026 supplement now provides that when a disruption lasts more than 24 hours and there is an imminent need, unit staff will arrange legal calls, updated visiting hours will be posted on the Bureau’s website and the lobby door, and the Federal Public Defender, the district court, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be emailed the length of the cancellation and an estimated return date. Lawyers also told the review that medical records often require a court order here (report at 44 n.86), which matters for any motion built on a client’s health.

How do phone calls and email work at MCC San Diego?

Calls from MCC San Diego go through TRUFONE, and email through TRULINCS. The Bureau’s telephone regulations, Program Statement 5264.09, issued September 3, 2026, allow 510 minutes a month: 300 minutes free for anyone eligible for First Step Act telephone incentives, and 210 more that anyone, eligible or not, may buy after using up the 300 (at 7). The 2022 handbook’s “maximum of 300 minutes” predates the 2026 statement, which rescinded the 2008 policy, and the old November–December bonus of extra telephone minutes no longer exists. A single call should generally not exceed 15 minutes, and at least 30 minutes must pass between completed calls (at 6).

Collect calls are possible: the statement lets a warden allow them for good cause and lists people held at Metropolitan Correctional Centers, pretrial detainees, and holdovers among its examples (at 6), and the handbook says prisoners here may call collect or direct, though not collect internationally. New arrivals are generally assigned a PAC number for the phones within 24 hours, weekends and holidays excluded. Three-way calls and relayed messages are abuse, and a first offense usually costs six months of phone use. The monitoring is real: an Inspector General report in August 1999 described a drug-trafficking ring run by a detainee here, exposed through 900 recorded calls. TRULINCS email is text only, monitored, and not confidential even with a lawyer. See our guides to prison phone calls and TRULINCS email.

What can people buy at the MCC San Diego commissary?

People at MCC San Diego can spend up to $460 a month on ordinary commissary purchases, the national ceiling set by the Bureau’s trust fund rules, Program Statement 4500.13, issued May 7, 2026, which raised the limit from $360. The institution’s 2022 handbook still says “The commissary spending limit is $160.00 bi-weekly,” which is obsolete, and listings that give $360 are out of date. The limit rises by $50 during the November–December holiday period, for no more than one validation period (at 28), and the current MCC San Diego lists print no local limit.

Only the items the statement names fall outside the ceiling, among them postage stamps, over-the-counter medicines, copy cards, footwear, and secured media devices; telephone credit is not one of them. The institution’s lists allow up to 20 stamps a week outside monthly spending.

There are three 2025 lists, all signed by the acting warden — women, general population, and Special Housing Unit — and shopping is weekly, with no changes once a list is submitted. Sample prices:

Item	Price	Note
7-inch tablet	$137.80	General-population and women’s lists
Prepaid copier card	$6.50	Outside the monthly limit
Adidas shoes / Nike Tanjun shoes	$65.40 / $78.00	General-population / women’s list; footwear is outside the limit
Single stamp / book of stamps	$0.73 / $14.60	Up to 20 stamps a week

The SHU list is short — one of each over-the-counter medicine, stamps, paper, envelopes, and three snacks not sold to people in disciplinary segregation — and write-ins are refused unless medically approved. The general lists run to regional food such as chorizo, carnitas, tortillas, and Casera sauce, marked kosher or halal where applicable. See our commissary guide.

What programs are available at MCC San Diego?

MCC San Diego offers few programs, by design. The population turns over too quickly for long programs, a pretrial detainee cannot be made to do more than housekeeping without signing a work waiver (28 C.F.R. § 551.106), and pretrial detainees may take correspondence or self-study courses and join institution education when security allows (§ 551.112). Most structured programming in the handbook is for the sentenced work cadre.

Drug treatment and RDAP

MCC San Diego does not run the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The 2022 handbook says so, and the institution is absent from the RDAP list in the Bureau’s August 2026 First Step Act Approved Programs Guide (updated June 2026), which counts “57 RDAPS at 50 Locations” and whose California entries are FCI Herlong and FCI Lompoc. Sentenced prisoners who want RDAP elsewhere apply through Psychology Services, and the handbook describes the local offering as drug education, non-residential treatment groups, and weekly 12-step and SMART Recovery meetings run by volunteers. The Bureau’s RDAP policy and our RDAP guide explain the program.

Education, work, and reentry

For the cadre, the 2022 handbook describes a literacy program of at least 240 hours for anyone without a GED or diploma (deportable noncitizens excepted), English as a Second Language, eight-week parenting classes, a pre-release program in the last year, and paid jobs that usually start in food service, as an orderly, or in maintenance. Only the cadre is considered for halfway-house placement or furloughs; pretrial detainees cannot be furloughed and join community programs only by court order (28 C.F.R. § 551.109).

The Bureau’s August 2026 First Step Act guide adds less than it seems. Its by-institution grid marks MCC San Diego for 46 programs and activities, but none of the program descriptions singles out this institution, and most say only that a program may be offered anywhere in the Bureau. For Federal Prison Industries the two halves disagree: the description lists 54 institutions without MCC San Diego, while the grid marks it. A written question to the unit team is the reliable way to learn which of the 46 are meeting now. Listings that say flatly there is no vocational training, apprenticeship, or UNICOR work here rest on no document from this institution, and on UNICOR the national guide contradicts itself, as described above.

What is daily life like at MCC San Diego?

Daily life at MCC San Diego is vertical: all movement between floors is by elevator, and people who must be kept apart are managed under a written separation plan that can delay trips to appointments. The 2026 audit counts nine housing units — six with multi-person cells and three open dormitories — and 40 segregation cells; the handbook names female, pretrial, holdover, work cadre, and Special Housing units.

Counts are at midnight, 3:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., the last two standing, plus a 10:00 a.m. standing count on weekends and holidays, and beds must be made by 7:30 on weekday mornings. The schedule below is from the April 2022 handbook, the newest the Bureau’s facility page links:

	Weekdays	Weekends and holidays
Wake-up and breakfast	6:00 a.m.; breakfast 6:15–7:00	7:00 a.m.; breakfast 7:00–7:30
Morning	Sanitation, work call, and programs 7:30–10:00; census 8:00–9:00; leisure from 10:00	Sanitation 7:30–8:30; leisure 7:30–10:30; count 10:00
Lunch	10:30–11:30 a.m.	10:45–11:45 a.m.
Afternoon	Census 12:30–1:00; programs and leisure 1:00–3:30; count 4:00	Sanitation 12:45–1:45; leisure to 4:00; count 4:00
Evening	Dinner 4:30–5:30; leisure 5:30–9:15; sanitation 9:15–9:45	Dinner 4:30–5:30; leisure 5:15–9:45
Night	Count 10:00; lights out 10:10	Count 10:00; lights out 10:10; count at midnight

The handbook’s food-service page gives slightly different meal times, so treat them as approximate; someone at a legal visit during a meal is fed on return. New arrivals get a bedroll and, the next business day, jumpsuits, T-shirts, underwear, socks, and black Croc-style shoes. Recreation equipment is kept on each unit and on the roof, and personal gym shoes may be worn off the unit only for rooftop recreation or with medical approval. For trial, a lawyer can arrange a court-clothing exchange through the unit team at least 48 hours ahead, one outfit only.

Health Services is on the third floor. The handbook lists sick call both as “Monday thru Friday” and as Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; requests go through TRULINCS, most are seen within one to three days, and emergency care is available at all hours. A sick-call visit costs $2.00 unless the person is indigent. Pill line runs on the unit around 6:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m., and dental care for unsentenced detainees and holdovers is limited to emergencies during their first year. See the Bureau’s patient care policy and our medical care guide.

What do inspectors and auditors say about MCC San Diego?

The fullest outside accounts of MCC San Diego are the Justice Department’s July 2023 review of lawyer access, summarized above, and the March 2026 Prison Rape Elimination Act audit. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General has not conducted an on-site inspection of this facility.

The March 2026 PREA audit

Matthew Taylor of Corrections Consulting Services audited MCC San Diego on site March 24–26, 2026, and his final report of May 4, 2026, found one standard exceeded, 44 met, and none failed. The exceeded standard was staff training, which the institution delivers in full every year rather than every two; the auditor wrote that staff knowledge “exceeded typical baseline training expectations.” The facility reported four sexual-abuse allegations — two against prisoners, two against staff — and one harassment allegation in the prior year, none substantiated, though the report’s outcome tables do not reconcile with its investigation counts. At the time of the audit the institution had no agreement with a community rape-crisis organization, despite attempts documented in a January 28, 2026, memorandum, so trained staff served as advocates; forensic examinations would take place at Palomar Medical Center, and none was performed in the 12 months the audit covered.

Sexual-abuse allegations in GAO’s data

The Government Accountability Office’s May 2026 report GAO-26-107343 lists for MCC San Diego 24 reported allegations naming another incarcerated person from 2020 through 2024 (5, 4, 2, 9, and 4 by year of incident; Table 7) and, separately, 29 naming Bureau employees (0, 4, 7, 10, and 8 by year of report; Table 8). The tables use different systems and dates and cannot be added. They are allegations, not findings — GAO found that from 2014 through 2022 most ended as unsubstantiated nationally, meaning the evidence could not show whether the abuse did or did not occur, not that the report was false — and GAO does not adjust them for population, so they cannot rank prisons.

Inspector General reports and staffing

The Inspector General’s Report 23-100 (September 2023) cited the kitchen-plumbing emergency described above. In August 2020 the Inspector General announced that Leonard Carlucci, a former officer here, received three years of probation for a false statement: in November 2016 he used oleoresin capsicum spray through a food slot on an inmate who had already retreated to the back of his cell, then falsely wrote that he used it because he believed the inmate was trying to breach the cell, and he admitted acting “because he was mad.”

The 2026 audit counted 199 staff with prisoner contact, 147 contractors, and 43 volunteers. The 2023 access review listed MCC San Diego among seven pretrial facilities paying a 10 percent retention incentive, and not among the six with correctional vacancy rates above 20 percent; in October 2023 Federal News Network reported 25 percent retention bonuses for officers here and at seven other institutions, MDC Los Angeles and FDC SeaTac among them.

MCC San Diego in the news

Recent news about MCC San Diego centers on two deaths in custody in 2026, the August 2026 visiting supplement, and the Fat Leonard appeal; older items concern the 2021 COVID-19 outbreak, a 2020 death, the 2018 computer shutdown, and Benjamin Arellano-Félix’s 2011 extradition. Newest first:

• August 2026 — the institution issued visiting supplement SDC 5267.09D, with attorney laptop rules and a fallback for legal access when a disruption passes 24 hours.
• May 2026 — in a release titled Death at MCC San Diego, the Bureau reported that Steven Lee Davis, 60, a pretrial inmate indicted for bank robbery, was “found unresponsive following a perceived altercation” on May 17, 2026, and, after life-saving measures, was “subsequently pronounced deceased by EMS personnel.” The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service were notified.
• April 2026 — in a release titled Death at MCC San Diego, the Bureau reported that Roberto Daniel Garcia Jacobo, 24, serving a 24-month sentence from the Southern District of California, “was found unresponsive” on April 18, 2026, and, after life-saving measures, was “subsequently pronounced deceased by EMS personnel.”
• January 2026 — USNI News reported that district court records placed Leonard Francis at MCC San Diego when he filed his latest appeal.
• August 2021 — the San Diego Union-Tribune reported a COVID-19 outbreak with 91 prisoners and eight staff positive, the most of any federal prison or jail; Federal Defenders suspended in-person visits and legal calls were limited to a two-hour daily window booked 48 hours ahead.
• September 2020 — Victor Ray Cruz, 47, died on September 21, 2020, while held here; the Bureau posted one news release reporting the death, and its releases are listed on its press release page. The Union-Tribune reported the cause as COVID-19.
• May 2018 — a nationwide Bureau computer shutdown kept MCC San Diego from processing new arrivals; 37 detainees were not produced for arraignment, and the chief judge granted the government’s offer to dismiss all 32 misdemeanor cases, the Union-Tribune reported.
• April 2011 — the Los Angeles Times reported that Benjamin Arellano-Félix was taken to the downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center after his extradition.

Questions families ask about MCC San Diego

Problems at MCC San Diego our firm can help with

The institution’s own documents and the 2023 review point to the problems of a crowded courthouse jail: time with a lawyer, discovery in front of the client, and a correct record before the case leaves San Diego.

• Detention review. Motions under § 3142(f), § 3145(b), and § 3142(i) depend on facts gathered outside the building — a custodian, an address, a treatment placement — and on moving promptly.
• Confidential time with counsel. In a building without attorney rooms, that means written requests to the Legal Department for the third-floor room and a record of each failure, which an administrative remedy or motion would need.
• Discovery. A BP-A1155 approval, the right storage format, an answer on where sensitive material is reviewed now, and a laptop at visits as the 2026 rules allow.
• Credit and designation. Prior-custody and First Step Act credit are calculated later and elsewhere (see our page on sentence-computation challenges), so records of work and classes done here matter; with no RDAP on site, judicial recommendations and presentence report corrections belong in the record before the case leaves the district. See our pages on transfers, early release, and compassionate release, and the Bureau’s compassionate release policy.
• Medical care and force. Lawyers report needing court orders for medical records here, and the 2020 prosecution of a former officer for a false use-of-force report shows why a detainee’s account should be written down promptly; failed care can lead to an administrative remedy or a Federal Tort Claims Act claim.
• Challenges to the conviction or sentence itself, through a direct appeal or a § 2255 motion.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. handles federal criminal defense, appeals and post-conviction matters nationwide, and advises families on Bureau of Prisons issues at institutions across the system. Call (843) 620-1100 or contact us to talk through a specific situation.

Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, the firm’s Managing Director, writes and maintains the federal prison policy material on this site. He is not counsel of record; legal representation is provided by Elizabeth Franklin-Best.

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

• MCC San Diego, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026.
• Institution Supplement SDC 5267.09D, Visiting Regulations, Federal Bureau of Prisons, MCC San Diego, 2026.
• Death at MCC San Diego, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The release on the death of Steven Lee Davis.
• Death at MCC San Diego, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The release on the death of Roberto Daniel Garcia Jacobo.
• MCC San Diego Commissary Shopping Lists, Federal Bureau of Prisons, MCC San Diego, 2025. The women’s, general-population, and Special Housing Unit lists.
• Institution Supplement SDC 5267.09C, Visiting Regulations (Spanish edition), Federal Bureau of Prisons, MCC San Diego, 2023. Superseded by SDC 5267.09D; the Bureau still serves the file.
• Admission and Orientation Inmate Handbook, Federal Bureau of Prisons, MCC San Diego, 2022.
• Pretrial Admission and Orientation Handbook, Federal Bureau of Prisons, MCC San Diego, undated.
• Inmate Legal Activities, Program Statement 1315.08, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026.
• Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual, Program Statement 4500.13, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026.
• Inmate Telephone Regulations, Program Statement 5264.09, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Replaced Program Statement 5264.08 (2008).
• First Step Act of 2018 – Time Credits: Procedures for Implementation of 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4), Program Statement 5410.01, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2022, as amended in 2023.
• Pretrial Inmates, Program Statement 7331.05, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2023, as amended in 2025.
• First Step Act Time Credits—Revisions, Federal Bureau of Prisons (Federal Register), 2026. Interim final rule, 91 Federal Register 55740, effective September 30, 2026.
• First Step Act Approved Programs Guide, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Reentry Services Division, 2026. Includes the Residential Drug Abuse Program location list.
• Pretrial Detention Legal Access Handbook, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2024.
• Institution Care Levels for Medical Assignment and Institutional Mental Health Care Levels, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2024. Released under Freedom of Information Act request 2024-03455 and published by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee.
• Community Ties, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The Bureau’s Send Money instructions.
• Press Releases, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2020. The Bureau’s index of its news releases.

Audits and inspections

• PREA Audit Report: Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) San Diego, Corrections Consulting Services, 2026.
• Federal Prisons: Improvements Needed to Prevent, Detect, and Address Sexual Abuse, U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2026. Report GAO-26-107343; tables 7 and 8 count allegations at MCC San Diego.
• Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Sole-Source Contract Actions, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2023. Report 23-100.
• Report and Recommendations Concerning Access to Counsel at the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Pretrial Facilities, U.S. Department of Justice, Advisory Group of Department of Justice Components, 2023.
• Criminal Calls: A Review of the Bureau of Prisons’ Management of Inmate Telephone Privileges, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 1999.

Court records

• Miles v. Bowers, 173 F.4th 372, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2026.
• Huihui v. Derr, No. 1:22-cv-00541, U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, 2023.
• Former BOP Correctional Officer Sentenced for False Statements, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2020. Leonard Carlucci’s sentence of three years of probation.
• Former MLB All-Star Pitcher Esteban Loaiza Sentenced to Three Years for Cocaine Trafficking, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, 2019.
• Two Former Border Patrol Agents Sentenced For Alien Smuggling, Bribery And Money Laundering, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, 2013. Raul and Fidel Villarreal’s sentences.
• United States v. Wilson, 503 U.S. 329, Supreme Court of the United States, 1992.

News and other sources

• Feds Buy Two California Detention Facilities for $1.5 Billion, inewsource, 2026.
• Former Olympic Snowboarder Ryan Wedding Pleads Not Guilty to Running a Drug Smuggling Ring, CNN (Associated Press), 2026.
• Appeals Court Denies ‘Fat Leonard’ Request to Reduce 15-year Sentence, USNI News, 2026.
• Western Region Detention Facility, The GEO Group, 2026.
• San Diego Central Jail, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, 2026. Facility directory.
• Becoming El Jefe, Longreads (Toronto Life), 2025.
• Statistical Information Packet, Fiscal Year 2025: Southern District of California, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2025.
• New 25% Retention Bonuses at Bureau of Prisons Only a ‘Band-Aid’ for Larger Staffing Issues, Federal News Network, 2023.
• Covid Outbreak Races Through Downtown Federal Jail, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2021.
• Family, Advocates Mourn San Diego Federal Inmate Who Died of COVID-19, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2020.
• 32 Illegal Border Crossing Cases Dismissed in San Diego After Prison Computer Glitch, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2018.
• Defensa de Esteban Loaiza solicita un cambio a la fianza de 200,000 dólares, Univision, 2018.
• Mexican Drug Kingpin Extradited to U.S. to Face Racketeering, Drug Conspiracy Charges, Los Angeles Times, 2011.
• Courthouse Walking Tour, Point of Interest 6: Metropolitan Correctional Center, San Diego, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, undated.
• 18 U.S.C. § 3142(f), (i), Release or detention of a defendant pending trial, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 18 U.S.C. § 3144, Release or detention of a material witness, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 18 U.S.C. § 3145(b), Review and appeal of a release or detention order, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a), (b), Calculation of a term of imprisonment, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(B)(ii), Development of risk and needs assessment system, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a), Earning First Step Act Time Credits, Code of Federal Regulations (Legal Information Institute).
• 28 C.F.R. §§ 551.100–.120, Pretrial Inmates, Code of Federal Regulations (Legal Information Institute).

Sources reviewed September 2026.

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026