# Metropolitan Correctional Center, San Diego

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, San Diego (MCC San Diego) is a United States federal administrative detention facility in San Diego, California, which holds male and female prisoners of all security levels. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
Most prisoners held at MCC San Diego have pending cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. MCC San Diego also holds prisoners serving brief sentences. MCC San Diego is an administrative facility designed to house federal prisoners of all security levels, including both male and female offenders. The building is 23 stories and can house 1,300 inmates.

## History

MCC San Diego opened in December 1974 and represented the first shift within the Bureau of Prisons to a new generation of high-rise prison buildings, along with MCC New York and MCC Chicago.

## Notable incidents

On March 18, 2011, the office of Laura E. Duffy, the US attorney for the Southern District of California, announced that Brandon McKinney, a former correctional officer at MCC San Diego, had been indicted on suspicion of having sexual relations with a female inmate while on duty on July 20, 2010. Since sexual relationships between prison staff and inmates are prohibited by law regardless of consent, McKinney was terminated and charged with assault. McKinney subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison on August 10, 2012.
Duffy's office issued a press release on July 18, 2013 announcing that Kirk Borja, an inmate at MCC San Diego, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it. Borja was originally indicted on the methamphetamine trafficking charge following his arrest in January 2012 as part of Operation Carnalismo, an investigation into the Mexican Mafia gang. Borja also admitted in his plea to concealing heroin inside his body while he was at MCC San Diego and planning to distribute it to other inmates before it was discovered by correctional officers. Borja is still being held at MCC San Diego pending sentencing.

## Notable inmates (current and former)

| Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
| Fidel Villarreal | 14217-298 | Serving sentence of 30 years; scheduled for release in 2026. Transferred to FCI Gilmer | Brothers and former US Border Patrol Agents; convicted in 2012 of operating a human smuggling ring which brought over 1,000 illegal immigrants into the US from Mexico in exchange for $1 million in bribes. |
| Raul Villarreal | 14218-298 | Serving sentence of 35 years; scheduled for release in 2031. Transferred to FCI Gilmer | Brothers and former US Border Patrol Agents; convicted in 2012 of operating a human smuggling ring which brought over 1,000 illegal immigrants into the US from Mexico in exchange for $1 million in bribes. |
| John Timothy Earnest | 85152-298 | Serving 2 life sentences plus 167 years; currently at California Men's Colony. | Perpetrator of the Poway synagogue shooting |
| José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa | 42130-298 | Released from prison in 2020, then violated his probation terms by fleeing to Mexico. Murdered in Culiacan, Sinaloa on May 15, 2020. | Mexican professional hitman, drug lord and high-ranking leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Pleaded guilty to participating in cocaine and marijuana shipments from Mexico to the U.S., and that he facilitated violent activities for the Sinaloa Cartel. |