STOCKTON — The
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation today dedicated
its new California Health Care Facility, an $839 million medical
facility designed to care for the state’s sickest inmates.
“This
new California Health Care Facility is just the latest example of the
state’s dedication to providing inmates in California with mental health
and medical treatment that rivals any prison health care in the
country,” said Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation Jeff Beard.
The newly constructed medical and mental health facility, which sits on
200 acres in south Stockton on the site of the former Karl Holton Youth
Correctional Facility, was completed on time and on budget. It will
begin accepting inmate-patients in mid-July and is expected to provide
intermediate level care for its full complement of 1,722 patients by the
end of 2013. Approximately 2,500 doctors, nurses, technicians, mental
health and other custody and support staff will be employed at the
facility.
Beard noted that, over the last decade, CDCR has spent
nearly $2 billion on 68 projects to upgrade or construct new dental
facilities, mental health treatment and medical facilities in its 33
prisons, in addition to building the new Stockton facility. “We are
serious about the health and well-being of the inmates entrusted to us,”
he said. “When you factor in the dramatic drop in our prison population
and the system-wide health care upgrades we’ve made, it’s clear we are
providing a constitutional level of care.”
The 54-building
complex in south Stockton includes housing for patients who require
acute and long-term care for medical or psychiatric needs. The facility
also includes a diagnostic center, dental clinic and dialysis units to
treat diabetes, a common disease among elderly and ill inmates.
Inmate-patients who require surgery or a higher level of care than can
be provided in the new facility will be treated at San Joaquin General
Hospital, where they will be housed in a secure, guarded ward
constructed by the state at a cost of $2.2 million that will keep them
separated from other hospital patients.
By providing acute care
to the state’s most seriously ill inmates, the new Stockton facility
increases the capacity of medical and mental health units to meet the
daily and less serious health needs of inmates in each prison.
Approximately 34,252 inmates, 25.8 percent of the total inmate
population, are currently receiving some level of mental health
treatment.
In addition to the California Health Care Facility,
CDCR will provide mental health treatment for 1,133 inmate patients at
the DeWitt Correctional Annex currently under construction adjacent to
the new facility. Construction, at a cost of $173 million, is expected
to be completed by the first quarter of 2014.
Construction
of the Stockton facility and other treatment upgrades in the state’s 33
prisons is in response to lawsuits (Plata and Coleman) alleging
substandard medical and mental health treatment and improvements ordered
by the Northern and Eastern Federal District Courts, respectively .
CDCR press release
