As part of a partnership with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, Prime Healthcare’s Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, Calif., has opened a custody care unit for incarcerated patients.
While not yet common, some hospitals across the U.S. are creating similar models to support safe care for incarcerated individuals, according to a hospital spokesperson.
“Dedicated treatment areas for incarcerated patients in community hospitals may be an emerging best practice to help ensure safe, quality care for this unique population,” the spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s.
The partnership launched in 2023 with the goal of improving medical care for people in custody, according to a Dec. 11 news release from the sheriff’s office. The office sent more than 2,600 incarcerated individuals to San Diego hospitals for higher-level medical care in 2024, increasing to nearly 2,700 so far in 2025, the release said.
The hospital and sheriff’s office collaborated to facilitate and leverage available hospital capacity to create a secure, dedicated treatment area for individuals requiring hospital-level care. The unit became fully operational Dec. 1. It operates independently of the general patient population and is accessible only to authorized hospital and sheriff’s office staff. The unit will not affect public healthcare services at the hospital.
“Partnerships, such as this innovative collaboration with Paradise Valley Hospital, will ensure resources are prioritized where they should be: on the individual requiring critical medical care and deputies relieved from time-consuming hospital runs so they can return to where their presence is truly needed,” Sheriff Kelly Martinez said in the release.
What sets the hospital’s custody care unit apart is the depth and intentionality of its partnership with the sheriff’s office, the spokesperson said.
“Over a two-year planning process, the Sheriff’s Detention Services Bureau worked closely with hospital leadership from the outset, helping shape the unit’s design and jointly developing policies and procedures related to communication, security, and patient care,” the spokesperson said. “This collaborative model was created to ensure patients receive timely, compassionate medical treatment while maintaining a secure environment for hospital staff and the broader community.”
