The City Council has removed a total of 71.5 tonnes of waste (71,579 kilos) accumulated in Palma’s former prison during three days of intensive cleaning work, with the aim of improving safety and sanitary conditions inside the premises.
Emaya removed more than 70 tonnes of waste from Palma’s former prison. Photos: Palma City Council
The work, carried out by Emaya, involved nine workers and various pieces of machinery, including four 26-tonne capacity lorries, a rotating backhoe excavator, a wheeled backhoe loader and an articulated trailer truck with platform.
According to the council, the accumulation of rubbish in different parts of the building poses a high risk of fire and insanitary conditions, worsened by the building’s own layout, which was designed to make evacuations difficult.
Recent incidents inside the premises
During the night, two new incidents were recorded inside the former prison. The Local Police intervened in a fight between two occupants, who were identified in connection with an offence of making threats, while Palma Fire Brigade had to act to extinguish a small fire.
Municipal reports warn that the risk of fire has increased in recent months due both to the accumulation of waste and to the fires recorded inside the building, some of them deliberate.
Call for the collaboration of social organisations
In light of the protest called this week against the eviction of the premises, the first deputy mayor, Javier Bonet, reiterated that the process to recover possession of the building is based exclusively on safety and institutional responsibility criteria.
Bonet warned that encouraging the people inside the building to remain there or promoting actions that could lead to uncivil behaviour amounts to “a tremendous irresponsibility”.
The council has also requested the collaboration of social organisations and third-sector entities to seek housing solutions for the people currently living on the premises, although for the time being no specific proposals have been received through the email address set up for this purpose.
Likewise, the municipal Social Services department has made the resources included in the municipal portfolio available to residents in order to provide support and assistance.
More than 300 interventions at Palma’s former prison
Since the start of the current term of office, the emergency services have carried out more than 300 operations related to the former prison.
The work carried out by Emaya involved a backhoe excavator, a wheeled backhoe loader and an articulated trailer truck with platform.
Palma Fire Brigade carried out 16 interventions in 2024, a figure that rose to 49 operations during 2025, while in 2026 so far a dozen have already been recorded, including the rescue of four people on 21 February.
For its part, the Local Police has carried out 263 operations inside the premises, in addition to 71 interventions in the surrounding streets, in response to the increase in incidents recorded in recent months.
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