Here we go again.

Since late 2005, the state has known the preliminary findings of a federal investigation at O'ahu Community Correctional Center. It's no secret, nor was it a surprise, that treatment of mentally ill prisoners was found to be substandard.

Numerous reports have shown the need for change, but the state has yet to get a handle on the shameful problem. More than seven years ago, federal courts ended 10 years of oversight of the Hawai'i prison system because of poor conditions. After a decade, the state should have emerged with a determination to prove it could handle things on its own.

Apparently, that was wishful thinking.

As evidenced in a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Justice to Gov. Linda Lingle on March 14, the state has a long way to go. The department concluded that Hawai'i has violated the constitutional rights of mentally ill prisoners by "subjecting them to harmful methods of isolation and restraint and failing to adequately monitor them."

Granted, the state has made some improvements since 2005, including an increase in staff and funding, and the elimination of procedures found troubling in the report. But as recent as January, an Advertiser investigation detailed prison conditions throughout the state that mental health professionals, including those working in prisons, found disgraceful.

Now Hawai'i has been given 49 days from the receipt of the letter to reach a resolution with the Justice Department or face a lawsuit that, ultimately, could put the prison right back under federal oversight. Attorney General Mark Bennett is confident that it won't come to that.

It's nice to know the state is confident that it can meet federal demands. Now maybe it can focus on the real problem: bringing facilities up to standard so that inmates no longer have to suffer inhumane treatment.