LOS ANGELES (AP) - Three California mental hospitals have been released from federal oversight six years after settlement of a Department of Justice lawsuit claiming patients were heavily drugged and improperly restrained.

A Los Angeles federal judge on Monday freed Norwalk's Metropolitan State Hospital from U.S. oversight.

Last fall, the judge released San Bernardino's Patton State Hospital and the central coast's Atascadero State Hospital from federal monitoring.

But Judge Audrey Collins says she's troubled by the death last spring of a Napa State Hospital patient who was placed in handcuffs while he was in a prone position.

The Los Angeles Times (lat.ms/NOtKvR) says the judge ordered further oversight at Napa to make sure the hospital is complying with recommendations against such restraints. The continued federal monitoring is expected to last up to a year.

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