Elk Grove in the Running to House State Prison Health Offices

As part of its ongoing push to attract state agencies to locate within its borders, the city of Elk Grove has submitted a proposal to house new offices for California Prison Health Care Services.

The agency, which oversees medical care for the state's inmates, is looking to consolidate its existing offices into one 295,000-square-foot leased facility somewhere in the Sacramento region. 

City spokesperson Christine Brainerd said city officials have met several times with state representatives, most recently in April, to discuss possible sites in Elk Grove, including the Laguna Springs Corporate Center on Laguna Springs Drive just off Highway 99.

In a letter to the state last year, City Manager Laura Gill touted Elk Grove's special incentive program for state agencies, which includes help with relocation and construction costs and lease payments. She also hinted that local public transportation services, which are controlled by the city, could be adjusted to meet the needs of the agency's workforce.

"Unlike other jurisdictions, the city of Elk Grove has the flexibility to change transit routes, increase the frequency of routes, or even add routes," she wrote.

California Prison Health Services is part of the Department of Corrections but reports to a federal court under the terms of a 2002 settlement over Constitutional rights violations in the prison system.

There will be no medical care provided at the new offices, which will house the agency's administrative headquarters, said the agency's director of legislation, Joyce Hayhoe. Hayhoe said the agency had received several bids that were within the required 20-mile radius of downtown Sacramento and hadn't yet made a decision.

"We are in the process of analyzing those bids to determine where would be the appropriate, cost-effective place to have our office," she said.

The timing of the move depends on building availability but it would be "in the near future," Hayhoe said.

Representatives of the Laguna Springs Corporate Center could not be reached for comment Tuesday. City officials said the site currently has 100,000 square feet of space available and could be easily expanded.

The proposed site also sits next to the Sutter Health campus on Laguna Blvd, where Sutter broke ground on a new outpatient surgery center Tuesday. Elk Grove Mayor Steven Detrick said that if the prison health project goes forward, the combination of the two facilities could help create a medical industry hub near the intersection of Laguna and Highway 99.

"We're trying to really embrace the medical field here in Elk Grove," he said. "If you have all this here it ties into other businesses that support the medical field."