California Health Care Facility, Stockton

CDCR's medical and mental health hub — where people transfer from across California when they need the most intensive care, in south Stockton.

Overview

The California Health Care Facility is CDCR’s hospital-prison: a 54-building complex opened in July 2013 to treat the people with “the most severe and long term needs” in the state system. Its roughly 2,400 patients come from every security level and every part of California — when someone’s medical or mental health needs outgrow what their prison can provide, CHCF is often where they go. The complex holds over 1,000 medical beds, 80 mental health crisis beds, and a 532-bed licensed psychiatric inpatient program, with dialysis on site; its patients include men, women, and non-binary people.

For a family, a transfer here usually arrives as a surprise. CDCR publishes no notification process for routine medical transfers — the practical channels are CIRIS, the state’s free locator, which shows the person’s current institution, and the person’s own call or letter.

What Makes California Health Care Facility Different

• It runs on two leadership tracks — a warden for custody and a healthcare CEO under California Correctional Health Care Services — and the healthcare side has its own family channel: the Patient Health Care Inquiry line, (916) 478-8756, for urgent changes in a patient’s condition. Non-urgent questions go in writing to CCHCS in Elk Grove. Either way, staff can only discuss a patient’s health if a signed release (CDCR Form 7385) is on file — worth asking the person to sign one before a crisis, not during.
• Bedside visits exist but are narrow: for patients hospitalized with life-threatening or critical illness, visits are limited to approved immediate family and require approval from the warden and the attending physician, arranged through the warden’s office.
• Compassionate release matters here: under California’s 2023 law, a family member can start the process by contacting the facility’s Chief Medical Executive, and when a patient meets the criteria the warden must notify the designated family member within 48 hours. Patients can designate who gets notified using CDCR Form 3038.
• Psychiatric and crisis-unit visits use their own process: visits with patients in the psychiatric inpatient program (B Yard), mental health crisis beds, or MAX units are requested through VSA with a call-back, or by email (chcfvideovisiting@cdcr.ca.gov) or phone (209) 467-2664, in a window that opens 8 days and closes 5 days before the visit day.
• Friends Outside offers childcare at visiting — posted for children ages 7 to 18 — and the institution scans commonly needed visitor documents (birth certificates, consent forms, medical notes).

Visiting Hours and Procedures

CDCR posts CHCF’s schedule and rules on the facility’s visiting status page.

Family (overnight) visits operate at CHCF, with visit food now ordered through Instacart — alcohol, tobacco, and glass or canned containers are barred — coordinated through the Family Visiting Coordinator at (209) 467-2664. Weekend video visiting ended at CDCR institutions in 2023; people with tablets get free video calls every two weeks from the tablet itself. The statewide approval process, dress code, and what you can bring are covered in Visiting in California.

Getting There and Parking

CHCF is at 7707 Austin Road in south Stockton, near the CA-99/Arch Road corridor.

Stockton is one of the more transit-reachable prison towns in California — the Robert J. Cabral Station downtown serves Amtrak and the ACE commuter rail from the Bay Area — but no public bus route is published as serving the facility itself, so the last leg is by car or taxi. CDCR publishes no parking details for CHCF.

Nearby Services

The Arch Road interchange on CA-99 has gas (an ARCO and a 76) and a Starbucks, with chain hotels including a Hampton Inn and a Holiday Inn Express in the airport area a few minutes away, and the full range of services in Stockton. The nearest emergency room is San Joaquin General Hospital at 500 W. Hospital Road in French Camp — a Level II trauma center with a 24/7 emergency department, (209) 468-6000.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at a California state prison:

• Visiting in California — CDCR approval process, dress code, scheduling
• Mail & Packages — What you can send and what gets rejected
• Phone & Video Calls — Call costs, tablets, and video visits
• Sending Money — How to add funds to a CDCR trust account
• Medical & Mental Health — Healthcare in CDCR facilities, and the family channels
• Transfers — What happens during transfers