Castlerea Prison
History. Castlerea was established as part of the system of district mental hospitals in 1939. Operating intermittently as a tuberculosis sanitorium, it continued to function as a hospital until 1994 when it was closed. It was renamed St. Patrick's Hospital during the 1960s. From 1996 it opened as a prison accepting a small intake of inmates that year. Construction work on the main cell blocks of the prison was completed in 1998.