A hospital trust has won a contract to supply telemedicine services to one of the UK’s most notorious prisons.

Airedale Hospital will provide its groundbreaking video link facilities to Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.

The jail once housed infamous killers including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, Moors Murderer Ian Brady and the Kray twins.

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust will also provide its telemedicine service to the island’s two other prisons, Camp Hill and Albany, to treat inmates and advise medical staff.

The contract’s announcement features in the foundation trust’s latest monthly update to its staff, issued by Airedale chief executive Bridget Fletcher.

It brings the total number of prison contracts so far won by Airedale to 20.

The hospital launched a specialised telemedicine hub at its premises in September last year.

It also can provide video link care and advice for people who live in their own homes or in nursing homes.

Parkhurst and Albany used to be among a handful of top-security prisons in the UK, but were downgraded in the 1990s.

Parkhurst was first built as a military hospital and was later turned into a prison for boys awaiting deportation.

In 1968 it became one of the first ‘dispersal’ high-security prisons and remained as a high-security facility until the mid-1990s when it was downgraded to Category B status.

The accommodation at Parkhurst consists mainly of single cells with an operational capacity of 536.

The prison takes criminals serving life sentences, including vulnerable inmates, and remand prisoners from the Isle of Wight.