Conflict between the Court and the Spanish government over the former prison while 200 people await a solution

PalmPalma City Council has repeatedly stated that between 60% and 70% of residents of the old prison of Palma They are undocumented immigrants. The city council is thus refusing to assume responsibility for helping them and points out that the Spanish government is responsible for this problem. The first deputy mayor of Palma, Javier Bonet, asserted on Tuesday that the State "has full jurisdiction over people who are undocumented." "If it has been able to build a tent for all the immigrants arriving by boat, it should also be able to address this housing crisis," he emphasized. In contrast, the Spanish government delegation in the Balearic Islands, which is awaiting the City Council's proposal at a meeting of the Local Security Board, believes that the situation of the former prison "requires each institution to exercise its powers to offer a response" to the situation.

The Palma City Council (Cort) is seeking "inter-institutional collaboration at the highest level" and maintains that the situation at the old prison is "a national problem." In fact, they also appealed to the Diocese of Mallorca, the Balearic Islands Port Authority (APB), and the army to find "a temporary housing solution," Bonet said. According to sources at the Diocese, speaking to ARA Baleares, the Palma City Council has not yet contacted the institution. However, they emphasize that cooperation is "constant and mutual" and assert that the Diocese is willing to collaborate and study the cases to help the prison residents in any way it can. For its part, the Spanish government says it "will continue to collaborate in the search for solutions." Sources from the Delegation point out that budget allocations have been assigned to various administrations to "facilitate the development of social policies." It will also collaborate through the State security forces and agencies – primarily the National Police – and will provide support to the Local Police in any decision adopted that complies with the law, in accordance with the relevant judicial authorizations.

The institutional battle to determine who should offer solutions to the residents of the old prison has only one victim: the nearly 200 people who live there. Brainer, a man who has been living there for approximately five months, says he is "tired" of being sent "from one place to another by public institutions without any help and without any solution."