Disgraced former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo has been diagnosed to be suffering from depression and has other health problems, according to medical sources.
This was why doctors recommended he be temporarily kept at the Forensic Unit of Mount Carmel mental hospital.
Sources said Dr Arrigo was on medication. Due to his medical condition, he required constant medical attention.
Following a two-week-long trial, Dr Arrigo was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail for accepting an €11,500 bribe to reduce a jail term of convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, known as l-Imnieħru.
When the judgment was handed down on Thursday, Dr Arrigo was taken to jail where he was photographed and then immediately shuttled to Mount Carmel. This gave rise to claims of preferential treatment in other media, prompting prison authorities to issue a statement explaining what happened.
In his statement, acting prison director Abraham Zammit said that on reaching the Corradino Correction Facility, Dr Arrigo was examined by the prison doctor. She found he was suffering from several medical conditions, but Mr Zammit did not specify what these were.
She recommended he be transferred to Mount Carmel Hospital, where he was reexamined by the Senior Houseman on duty. He confirmed the diagnosis of the first doctor and certified that Dr Arrigo should be given constant medical care.
Following this medical advice, Dr Arrigo was placed in a room previously used as the manager's office, since the hospital's forensic section, which is an extension of the Kordin jail, was overcrowded, sources said.
His stay at this section would be temporary, until Mount Carmel doctors certified that his health condition had stabilised, Mr Zammit said.
Mr Zammit also referred to reports in the media about the use of a new rented van to transport Dr Arrigo from the Law Courts to prison on Thursday, the day he was sentenced to 33 months in jail.
He said the eight-seater van was rented last week to replace one of the prison's two vans, which had been garaged for repairs. He insisted there was no request for a particular van to transport the disgraced former chief justice.
Mr Zammit said a similar van had already been rented four times this year, whenever the prison vans were unavailable. The van that transported Dr Arrigo to jail had already been used for at least 40 other prisoners. Dr Arrigo was previously transported in the prison's dingy Mitsubishi vans.
Dr Arrigo's departure from jail shortly after his arrival did not go down well with prisoners, not only because of perceived preferential treatment but because they were angry at the lenient sentence he was given.
Sources close to inmates said some prisoners felt they had been given a much longer stay in jail for crimes far less serious than the ones Dr Arrigo was convicted of.
The sources also commented on the cell where former Judge Patrick Vella, who admitted to receiving a bribe to reduce the same jail term, spent his 16-month term. This, they said, was no larger than "two telephone booths".
Asked to describe Mount Carmel's forensic unit, sources who frequent the hospital said it was "completely different to prison" and provided a "more relaxed atmosphere".
They said the unit was at the back of the hospital grounds, was surrounded by fields and had a view of Mdina.
The unit has an open space with trees and benches where family members visiting prisoners can spend their time with their loved ones. It also has a small games room with a billiard table.