Mentally ill inmates in Sacramento state prison will finally get the medical treatment that they badly need after state correction officials have decided to segregate them from regular inmates, by providing  them with specialized housing units.

The move came on the heels of a California judge ruling in April, that state prisons in California violate the Constitutional rights of the mentally ill inmates against cruel, severe, and unusual punishments.

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U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton issued the ruling following the release of videos by correctional officers showing prison guards using large amounts of pepper spray into the cells of  mentally ill inmates causing them to get delirious.

The agreement to segregate the mentally ill was filed in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento. Under the agreement, the housing unit set-up will offer the mentally ill inmates more treatment instead of placing them with the non-patient inmates in isolation units.

The agreement will focus more on the treatment of the more than 2,500 mentally ill patients by creating separate short and long-term housing units for them. The agreement will also see to it that the mentally ill inmates will have more time out of their cells.

Prison officials have long been subjecting the mentally ill inmates to severe punishments such as keeping them in solitary confinements for a long time as part of their disciplinary measures.

The agreement was considered a major shift in policies of the state on how they handle mentally ill inmates. The new arrangement emphasizes treatment of the patients while in segregation, focuses on the inmate's length of stay in segregation, the inmate's psychiatric state upon release from in-patient care.

Civil rights lawyers and the legal community hailed the state's decision saying it is a "gigantic change" and "a tremendous step forward" for the thousands of mentally ill inmates who have suffered the notorious treatment from prison officials.

Psychiatric experts have said that the prolonged stay of mentally ill inmates in isolation units and sun deprivation can worsen their condition.

State prison inmates in several states have staged hunger strike in recent years denouncing the harsh punishment prison guards inflict on them, particularly detaining them in isolation units for weeks.

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