Medical & Mental Health in CDCR
How medical, dental, and mental health care work in California state prisons, including the no-co-pay rule, mental health levels of care, and the grievance process.
Who Provides Care
Health care in California state prisons is delivered by California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS), not by a private vendor chosen facility by facility.
- CCHCS provides medical, dental, and mental health services across CDCR institutions.
- California’s prison medical system operates under federal court oversight that followed litigation over the adequacy of care.
- Each institution has on-site clinics, and complex cases are referred to specialty or outside care.
Requesting Medical Care
For non-emergency problems, care begins with a written request.
- Submit a CDCR Form 7362, Health Care Services Request Form, available in housing units.
- Nursing staff triage the request and decide how quickly the person is seen.
- The person is called to the clinic for evaluation, treatment, follow-up, or referral depending on the issue.
Emergencies are handled through immediate staff response rather than the Form 7362 process. Unit staff can send a person to on-site medical care, an infirmary, or an outside hospital.
No Co-Pay in California
This is a key difference from many other states.
- California does not charge incarcerated people a co-pay for medical or dental visits.
- CDCR voluntarily ended its $5 co-pay in 2019, and AB 45 codified the change effective January 1, 2020, barring CDCR from charging a co-payment.
- A lack of funds is not a barrier to requesting care.
Mental Health Services
CDCR’s Mental Health Services Delivery System (MHSDS) places patients in a level of care based on clinical need. The levels run from routine outpatient care up to inpatient hospitalization.
Levels of care, lowest to highest intensity
- CCCMS (Correctional Clinical Case Management System): The basic outpatient level. Patients live in general population, have an assigned primary clinician, receive individual contact at least once every 90 days, and have psychiatry follow-up for medication monitoring. Group therapy is offered but not required.
- EOP (Enhanced Outpatient Program): The highest level of outpatient care. Patients live in separate housing units, are seen by a clinician weekly and a psychiatrist or psychologist monthly, and are offered a minimum of 10 hours of structured group therapy each week.
- MHCB (Mental Health Crisis Bed): A short-term inpatient crisis program for stabilization, intended to last 10 days or less.
- PIP (Psychiatric Inpatient Program): Inpatient care for patients who cannot stabilize at a lower level, provided jointly by CDCR and the Department of State Hospitals.
How placement works
- A clinical evaluation determines the level of care, and the level can change as needs change.
- A person can move to a higher level of care during a crisis and step back down as they stabilize.
- Mental health care is requested through the same Form 7362 process, with emergencies handled by immediate staff response.
Grievances and Appeals
CDCR replaced its older three-level inmate-appeal system in 2020. There are now separate tracks for health care and non-health-care complaints, each with a two-level structure.
Health care grievances
- Use CDCR Form 602-HC, the Health Care Grievance form, available in all housing units.
- The grievance is first reviewed at the institution.
- A dissatisfied patient can escalate to the headquarters level, handled by the Health Care Correspondence and Appeals Branch (HCCAB) at CCHCS, P.O. Box 588500, Elk Grove, CA 95758.
- Health care grievances are governed by CCR Title 15 §3999.227 and related sections, which set the filing and response requirements.
General (non-health-care) grievances
- Use CDCR Form 602-1, the Grievance form, available in housing units, prison law libraries, and parole offices.
- A grievance must be submitted within 60 calendar days of the action or decision being grieved.
- The institution’s Office of Grievances issues a written response, generally within 60 calendar days.
- A dissatisfied person can appeal to the Office of Appeals at CDCR headquarters using CDCR Form 602-2.
What Families Can Do
Outside advocacy is limited by medical privacy rules, but it is not useless.
- Keep dated records of symptoms, requests, and responses the incarcerated person reports.
- Confirm whether a Form 7362, a 602-HC, or a 602-1 has actually been submitted.
- For unresolved health care concerns, the CDCR Office of the Ombudsman provides a health care assistance contact.
- Detailed medical information is generally not released to family without the incarcerated person’s signed authorization.
Verify Before Acting
Sources
This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.