California Medical Facility

CDCR's oldest medical prison and home of the nation's first licensed prison hospice, in Vacaville — adjacent to the separate California State Prison, Solano.

Overview

The California Medical Facility was established in 1955 as the system’s central medical, psychiatric, and dental institution for men, and that is still its job: most of its roughly 2,050 residents live in outpatient medical housing, with higher-need patients in a licensed correctional treatment center, an inpatient psychiatric program CDCR describes at about 400 beds, 50 mental-health crisis beds — and the unit CMF is known for nationally, the 17-bed hospice that in 1993 became the first licensed hospice inside an American prison, serving men from across California at the end of their lives.

Families arrive at this page from two very different directions: a mental-health placement, or a serious illness. Both mean the person was moved here for care — CIRIS confirms the transfer, and the healthcare channels below are how families stay informed.

What Makes the California Medical Facility Different

• The hospice has its own posted visiting schedule — Thursday and Friday 12:00-6:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., per CDCR’s posted rules effective July 2023 — and two extraordinary provisions: approved loved ones need no appointment, and visitors on vigil are not bound by the hours at all. CCHCS’s hospice medical director has described visiting norms inside the unit that mainline visiting never allows — families in the patient’s room, sitting on the bed, holding hands — and by published accounts an inmate pastoral-care volunteer sits vigil through a patient’s final days so no one dies alone.
• Compassionate release starts here for many families: under California’s current rules, a family member can independently request consideration by writing to the institution’s Chief Medical Executive. The criteria are a serious advanced illness on an end-of-life trajectory or permanent medical incapacitation; once CDCR refers a case, the court must hold a hearing within 10 days, and a granted release happens within about 48 hours (up to 30 days when housing and medical care need arranging).
• The psychiatric side is just as large: the inpatient psychiatric program (about 400 beds) and crisis unit make CMF one of the men’s system’s main mental-health destinations — most placements here are about treatment, not end of life.
• Two mail boxes, one for money: inmate letters go to P.O. Box 2000; money orders go separately to P.O. Box 2500 — and next-door Solano’s Box 4000 is a different prison entirely.
• Family (overnight) visits at CMF are narrow: posted as limited to people in work/privilege group A1/A, once every 90 days, with visit groceries ordered through Instacart to arrive the day before.

Visiting Hours and Procedures

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

Weekend video visiting ended at CDCR institutions in 2023; people with tablets retain free periodic video calls 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

CMF is on California Drive in Vacaville, on the I-80 corridor — by CDCR’s own description, 37 miles southwest of Sacramento and 65 northeast of San Francisco.

CDCR publishes no parking details for CMF — its locator page links map directions, and the practical confirmation is a call ahead, especially for a first visit.

Nearby Services

Vacaville’s I-80 interchanges hold a cluster of named hotels — Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn Express, Best Western, and more — with the full freeway-corridor range of food and gas. NorthBay Health’s VacaValley Hospital at 1000 Nut Tree Road runs a 24-hour emergency department, (707) 624-7000, and Kaiser Permanente’s Vacaville Medical Center on Quality Drive also operates a 24-hour ER.

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