A Georgia sheriff has agreed to improve jail conditions for women with serious mental illness to settle a lawsuit alleging that prolonged solitary confinement and unsanitary conditions risked causing them serious psychological harm.

Lawyers who visited the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail witnessed women in psychological distress lying on the floor, their bodies and the walls of their cells smeared with feces or food, the class action lawsuit said. There were pools of urine and toilet water in cells and meals of moldy sandwich meat weren’t uncommon, the suit said.

U.S. District Judge William Ray on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to the settlement agreement signed by Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat and lawyers for women with psychiatric disabilities held at the jail in Union City, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) southwest of Atlanta. Ray has scheduled a fairness hearing for March 16 to hear any objections or comments from women who will be covered under the settlement before granting final approval.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2019 on behalf of the imprisoned women with serious mental illness being held in isolation at the jail and the Georgia Advocacy Office, a private nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities.

The lawsuit, filed by the Southern Center for Human Rights, said the women generally spent more than 23 hours a day in their cells and when they were allowed out, they spent time alone in the cell block dayroom and were deprived of meaningful social interaction and therapeutic activities. Many women with mental illness had deteriorated psychologically while held in solitary confinement, the suit said.