Sacramento, CA  - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has committed to spending more than $600 million to build new mental health facilities for inmates, continuing a prison building boom that has lasted for more than two decades.

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton approved a long-range administration plan to add 695 new beds for mentally ill inmates Thursday as part of an 11-year-old class action lawsuit against the state. Karlton approved the plan at the end of a two-day hearing in which he called the state's lack of progress in providing constitutionally required mental health care for prisoners shocking and noted that fixing the problem will ultimately be "horrifically expensive.''

Karlton also ordered corrections officials to make several other short-term moves to provide more mental health treatment. The immediate fixes are needed in part because of a population explosion in the prison system that has left authorities with no room to house or treat troubled inmates.

One inmate at San Quentin State Prison who was described as psychotic by prison staff went 20 days without any contact with a mental health specialist and was temporarily kept naked in a cell with no toilet or bed. He later gouged at his own eyes and is now blind, according to court documents filed by attorneys representing inmates. The same report noted that in February only 30 of 230 inmates who were referred for mental health crisis treatment got into a program within the required 24 hours.

The mental health lawsuit is one of many problems facing a prison system that has lost two leaders in the past two months. Schwarzenegger appointed an acting corrections secretary last week after Jeanne Woodford abruptly quit.