Palma requests the courts for the eviction of the 80 residents of the old prison

PalmaThe Palma City Council will request the courts to carry out the forced eviction of the last 80 people residing in the old prison, after dismissing the allegations presented. This was confirmed by the spokesperson and councilor for Finance, Contracting and Heritage of the Palma City Council, Mercedes Celeste, at the press conference following the Governing Board meeting, in which this new step has been approved to recover possession of the property that was once inhabited by more than 200 people.

This is a process that began in February of this year, following technical reports that warned of the "existing danger" to the people residing there and it was a situation that "affected" neighborhood coexistence.

After registering some 206 people, they were notified of the start of these actions and the deadlines for submitting objections. Once this avenue was exhausted and after the five business days granted by the City Council to voluntarily leave the property, it has been agreed to submit the file to the courts to obtain the corresponding eviction order.

During these months, Celeste has stated that they have offered "permanent" attention by providing accompaniment to "all residents" of the prison, although she has warned that access to these resources is "voluntary".

In this way, she detailed that 45 people have been referred to the Mallorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS) to attend temporary shelters and socio-labour insertion programs. In other cases, she pointed out that there have also been people who have left the old prison to go to the Peninsula, join the labour market, or have been re-imprisoned in penitentiary centres.

The local representative maintained that "the majority" of the people who still remain there "do not meet the requirements" to be attended by municipal services, either because they are not registered in Palma, or because they are in an irregular administrative situation.

Asked about the time these people might have before a judicial resolution, it has been maintained that they "cannot foresee" the times and manner of justice. Nevertheless, it has been highlighted that the City Council is "open" to continuing the accompaniment work.

Regarding how many of the latest inhabitants meet the profile to benefit from the extraordinary regularization process for migrants and therefore could access other resources in the future, the City Council has not offered a specific figure, but has attributed to the state government that if they had "been concerned," they could have assisted them. Nevertheless, it has been pointed out that Social Services has been "in contact" with them.

However, the councilor stressed that the City Council assumes "all the social and economic impact" of this operation, which, in her view, "exceeds" local competencies, for which she criticized that there has been "zero involvement" from the state government.

At the same time, she pointed out that contact has been maintained with other entities to explore different solutions, and a letter was sent to the Bishopric of Mallorca to suggest that, if it has resources to house these people, it should make them available to the City Council "immediately".