Gov. Sonny Perdue announced Tuesday that the state has reached an agreement to help move mentally ill and developmentally disabled Georgians out of the state's psychiatric hospitals and into community settings such as group homes.

The agreement with the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services addresses a 2001 complaint that aimed to force the state to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down in a landmark Georgia case.

The 1999 decision, known as Olmstead, requires states to provide appropriate services so that people who are institutionalized can instead live in homes in the community.

Despite the decision, Georgia has not resolved its Olmstead legal issues for nearly a decade, according to groups who filed the civil rights complaint. The state now faces a separate investigation of its mental hospitals by another federal agency, the Department of Justice.

If the agreement announced Tuesday is successfully implemented, Georgia, at the very least, would be compelled to significantly boost its spending on community services for individuals with mental or developmental disabilities. Those services in Georgia have consistently been criticized by mental health advocates as severely inadequate.

The Justice Department investigation, which began last year, was prompted by articles in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, describing dangerous and overcrowded conditions in the state-run mental hospitals.

The newspaper reported that at least 136 patients died under suspicious circumstances at the state hospitals from 2002 through late 2007. In addition, the newspaper said, state officials substantiated nearly 200 cases of patient abuse during that period.

A month ago, the Justice Department wrote Perdue a scathing 65-page letter about widespread problems in the state's Atlanta hospital, including avoidable patient deaths, overuse of medications, poor discharge planning and understaffing.

The state operates seven psychiatric hospitals with beds for about 2,700 people with mental or developmental disabilities. Hospital units are often filled to capacity or beyond.

Whether the Olmstead agreement will form part of Georgia's response to the Justice Department letter is unclear. The state's response is expected late this month.

"If the state develops a serious plan, with significant action steps and funding, it could certainly be helpful in addressing the Justice Department's concerns,'' said Ron Honberg, legal director for the Virginia-based National Alliance on Mental Illness. "How much money is the state willing to put behind this?''

In Tuesday's statement, Perdue said, "Every Georgian who faces mental illness or developmental disabilities has the right to be treated in a way that not only ensures the best outcome, but allows for the highest quality of life."

Still, consumer advocates, law enforcement officers, judges and even state officials have pointed out that Georgia does not have adequate services —- such as housing and case managers —- to help people with mental illness live in the community.

The average spending by other states on community mental health services, $68 per capita, is two-and-a-half times what Georgia spends at $27 per capita, according to 2005 state figures.

The Justice Department letter said patients at Georgia Regional Hospital/Atlanta routinely get discharged to homeless shelters. It emphasized the Olmstead problems, saying Georgia Regional "is the very hospital where, nearly a decade ago, the United States Supreme Court made clear that the unnecessary institutionalization of persons with disabilities violates the law."

Investigators cited the case of a patient who had been admitted to Georgia Regional 107 times. Her treatment plan rarely varied.

In the voluntary five-year agreement announced by Perdue, the state —- which did not admit any violations of law —- will create discharge plans for hospital patients and determine who can live in the community, said Abel Ortiz, who helped negotiate the agreement, and who is the chairman of Perdue's mental health commission.

"Then we have to make sure we develop the community resources,'' he said.

"It will be a complete system overhaul,'' Ortiz said. "We know it will take additional state resources.'' He did not give a specific amount of money needed.

Sue Jamieson, an attorney for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, which co-filed the 2001 civil-rights complaint, said she had not read the agreement. But she added that ''the state has not made a significant effort to comply with the Olmstead decision.''

Jamieson also pointed out that besides ongoing care problems in the mental hospitals, the state recently took money away from children's community mental health services. The state shifted $6.6 million in mental health funding to other Department of Human Resources programs.