Ministry of the Interior closes Guardia Civil cells in Palmanova

THE national Ministry of the Interior has closed the cells and restrooms in the Guardia Civil station in Palmanova because they do not conform to even the minimum standards of hygiene and security. This measure, unprecedented in Majorca, means considerable disturbance in the operation of the station because now the prisoners in detention there will have to be transferred to the Guardia Civil headquarters in Palma. On doing this, valuable time could be lost which could affect the security of the town (Palmanova) by taking officers off the streets.
In practice, the officers who patrol the streets of Palmanova make continuous trips between Palma and Palmanova anyway, arresting suspects.
The Guardia Civil station, which was built more than 40 years ago, occupies 130 square metres and is in a terrible state.
There are eight offices, two restrooms, a cell area and an old garage which has now been converted into an office.
There is a small storage room which serves as a dressing room, together with around 50'000 statements lying about haphazardly. The Area Prevention of Crime Coordinator's office is less than five square metres and the exterior of the station, in a central street in Palmanova, is showing signs of extremely bad deterioration. The situation is far worse than it appears when you take into account the fact that the Palmanova station is one of the foremost stations for arrests by the Guardia Civil, especially in the Summer months. In the closure order, the Ministry says that the disgraceful state of the cells has a psychological effect on those detained and this is why they cannot remain in operation.