NEW STUDY: California’s Mental Health Care for Incarcerated Individuals Exceeds Key National Standards

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: According to a multi-year rigorous study, California's delivery of mental health care to the incarcerated population meets or exceeds national standards.

SACRAMENTO - Continuing to prioritize the delivery and quality of mental health care of the state's incarcerated population, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced the results of a multi-year study that highlights the state's comprehensive policies and clinical performance which meet or exceed national and community standards as well as those of other correctional systems.

"The primary function of CDCR's mental health programs is to ensure incarcerated patients have ready access to mental health services based on their needs - whether long- or short-term," said CDCR Secretary Jeff Macomber. "We are focused on their successful reintegration into society when possible, and the safety of our communities."

The report conducted a systemwide study of the Department's Mental Health Services Delivery System (MHSDS) and provided several recommendations, including improving staffing efficiencies, developing a comprehensive operations manual and expanding the use of tele-mental health services.

Key findings

A specialized team of 30 experts applied rigorous, multifaceted methodology that scrutinized every essential aspect of mental health care services at 28 CDCR institutions for three years, which determined the following:

• A strong compliance with its own policies for providing mental healthcare - meeting or exceeding national standards.
• A high quality of care delivery across most facilities, indicating patients receive reasonable care aligned with high clinical standards.
• A community-aligned approach to correctional mental health care that is frequently more rigorous than minimum community and regulatory expectations, meeting and exceeding California's regulatory standards.
• Mental health policies align with or exceed the requirements of most comparison states.
• A suicide prevention program that is more comprehensive than all comparison states.
• Significantly lower staffing ratios for qualified mental health professionals and psychiatric providers that exceed industry standards and other states, meaning that California provides more staff per incarcerated patient.

Decades-long improvements in mental health care

CDCR's statewide mental health program operates under a court order originally issued in 1995 as Coleman v. Wilson. In 1997, the parties reached agreement on a plan to establish the Mental Health Services Delivery System Program Guide. The court recently appointed a receiver to provide further leadership and executive management of the MHSDS.

Contact: CDCR Press Office [email protected]

For Immediate Release: Oct. 6, 2025