Beginning Nov. 30 of next year, federal courts no longer will oversee state efforts to develop a community plan for serving Hawai'i's seriously mentally ill residents, ending 15 years of scrutiny that arose from allegations of civil rights violations of patients at the Hawai'i State Hospital.

Under an agreement disclosed yesterday, the state still must implement the community plan by June 30, 2006.

The agreement essentially ensures the state, health officials and Justice Department lawyers can avoid fighting in court and focus on working together to develop services for mentally ill residents, estimated to be as many as 9,000.

The agreement was announced in a hearing before Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra by lawyers for the state and the Justice Department.

Federal lawyers said they hope the state can develop the plan by the deadlines and state attorneys said the state will be diligent in its efforts.

"I think you have to take (the state's promise to comply) with a huge grain of salt," said Mike Pablin, 58, a Salt Lake resident who suffers from mental illness. "There really isn't any indication the state can walk the walk."

The state hospital emerged from federal oversight in December of last year, but the federal court retained jurisdiction over the implementation of the 2002 plan. But it soon became clear that the state was falling behind in developing the only statewide community mental health plan in the country.

It calls for the state to provide services such as support and treatment for former state hospital patients, walk-in mental health clinics and safe, affordable housing for the mentally ill.

In February, U.S. Magistrate Kevin Chang warned the state's progress was "slow and unremarkable." In July, Chang issued a report harshly criticizing the leadership of the adult mental health division of the Health Department, questioning whether the state could meet the June 30 deadline and citing the deaths of 16 mentally ill Hawai'i residents, including six by suicide, during a two-month span this year.

State lawyers questioned the scope of the federal court's jurisdiction, suggesting it should be limited to services to former state hospital patients or mentally ill residents diverted from the hospital rather than the entire population of seriously mentally ill people.

The state lawyers also questioned whether the court-appointed evaluators were holding the state to a higher standard than required. The state disputed whether one of the six mentally ill residents actually committed suicide.

Justice Department and state lawyers privately hammered out the agreement with the help of the magistrate.

Paul Aucoin, an Ohio lawyer hired as a special deputy attorney general, and Verlin Deerinwater, a Justice Department lawyer, told Ezra that a stipulation in the agreement will be filed within about two weeks.

Aucoin later said the stipulation will cover a step-by-step "action plan" dealing with issues raised by Chang's report.

"What we all agreed to do as a group is to . . . start focusing on procedures, programs and structures that benefit the (mentally ill) consumers of the state of Hawai'i," Aucoin said.

He said the agreement reflects an "attitude change" to move away from litigation and toward working together.

The federal lawyers said they can't predict what they would do if the state doesn't comply by the Nov. 30 termination date, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Yee said they are hopeful that the state will meet its obligations.

Sunny Algoso, 43, of Makiki, who suffers from a mental illness and also helps other mentally ill residents, was also at yesterday's hearing.

"It's my responsibility as a (mental health services) consumer to make sure the state is really being overseen by the feds, to make sure they are in compliance with the community service plan," she said.

Algoso said she doesn't want to see the oversight lifted because she doubts the state will be able to implement the plan.

"They still are so slow," she said. "I can't foresee them accomplishing that."

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.