Mentally ill prisoners at O'ahu Community Correctional Center will no longer be put in "therapeutic lockdowns," and treatment plans will be created for them that "adequately address serious mental health needs."

Those changes are part of a long list of improvements in the treatment of mentally ill inmates at OCCC included in a 29-page agreement filed in court this week by state and federal authorities.

The agreement is intended to settle a lawsuit filed at the same time by the U.S. Justice Department that alleges the state failed "to provide constitutionally adequate mental health care" to OCCC inmates.

Federal investigators in 2007 alleged widespread deficiencies in mental care policies and practices at the facility, and since then the state "has made progress in remedying several of the alleged constitutional violations," the agreement said.

The federal investigation began in 2005 and the Department of Justice "received complete cooperation and access to OCCC and documents from the state of Hawai'i," the agreement said.

The agreement was signed by Gov. Linda Lingle, Attorney General Mark Bennett and state Public Safety Director Clayton Frank as well as attorneys with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

Both sides agreed to use an outside monitor, University of Utah professor Russell Van Vleet, to oversee the state's compliance with the agreement.

Van Vleet has monitored state improvements at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility that were implemented under a similar agreement between federal authorities and the state.

The state will pay Van Vleet's salary and expenses.

Among the "substantive remedial measures" at OCCC: