More hospital places for prisoners

I REFER to your article and editorial (Irish Examiner, Sept 11) concerning the Central Mental Hospital and its role in addressing the mental health needs of prisoners.

The East Coast Area Health Board is very surprised that the significant advances made recently in the development and modernisation of treatment interventions provided through the hospital have not been mentioned in either the article or your editorial.

These developments, facilitated by the establishment of additional multi-disciplinary teams, were highlighted in the report of the inspector of mental hospitals. Within the last year, a development plan for the hospital has been submitted to government.