Coalinga State Hospital - About The Facility

About The Facility

The state began construction on Coalinga State Hospital in the fall of 2001. According to the hospital's official Web site, CSH has 1.2 million gross square feet (gsf) of floor space. This includes 900,000 gsf for clinical services and programs, 158,000 gsf for support services, 75,000 gsf for administration, and 67,000 gsf for plant operations.

Instead of calling the population housed at CSH "patients" or "inmates," hospital policy is to call them "individuals" because they are civilly-committed. Staff address the individuals by their last names (i.e., Mr. Jones) to maintain professional boundaries. This is because many of the charms that allowed the offenders to compromise their victims are also used on hospital staff to acquire drugs, trade goods, or sex. CSH provides extensive training for all new employees on how to manage and report manipulation.

The hospital is located at the edge of the Coastal Mountain Range in the heart of California just outside the City of Coalinga, nestled up against the adjacent Pleasant Valley State Prison. Coalinga is located ten miles west of Interstate 5. It is four hours north of Los Angeles, three hours south of San Francisco, and about one hour southwest of Fresno, California's sixth largest city.

The hospital uses a five-phase treatment program for SVPs that was developed when SVPs were still mostly all treated at Atascadero State Hospital. The rigorous program focuses on helping SVPs manage their impulses, take responsibility for their actions, and see their crimes and victims from a realistic perspective. The hospital also has recreational facilities including a gym, softball field, arts and crafts, graphic design room, woodworking opportunities, and a music room. Individuals are allowed to purchase electronic goods, rent DVDs, and other perks with a token economy system called the "By Choice" program. This system is designed to reward positive behaviors, which are designated by each individual's treatment team. Up to 100 points can be rewarded per day (a bar of soap sells for 500 points in the point exchange store). The annual operating budget of CSH is $152 million (or $157,894 per individual).