Minorca pushes ahead with plans for a penitentiary

The Mayor of Mahon, Arturo Bagur, heads to Madrid next week for talks with the prison service about the construction of a new penitentiary on the island. The Mayor said yesterday that the project has also been backed by Ciutadella Council, the Council of Minorca and the central government delegation in Minorca. Plans for a penitentiary in Minorca have been on hold since the end of the 90*s, but Bagur says that now the council has taken possession of the old Santiago military barracks in Mahon, the former army base is the ideal location. Bagur will present the prison services with a 120 million peseta plan which will involve the construction of 20 holdings cells. While the centre would not act as a jail, as those sentenced in Minorca are transfered to Majorca to serve their sentence in Palma prison, it would provide the police with sufficient facilities to hold suspects.