California Medical Facility, or CMF, is touted as the flagship medical institution of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR, but some with inside knowledge of its alleged treatment of incarcerated patients call that reputation into question.
According to multiple sources, including those incarcerated at the facility and lawyers representing them, the building lacks any heating or air conditioning and has poor ventilation despite being a medical facility that warehouses vulnerable people. During the 2020 fire season, the windows that were broken or unable to shut allowed smoke to flood the building.
Last year’s Vacaville fire came within miles of the facility, but despite initially being included in the fire department’s evacuation zone map, corrections officials deemed evacuation unnecessary for the prison and its neighboring facility, California State Prison Solano, according to a KQED article and multiple other news reports. When pressed by repo