Article published in the Diario Menorca about the old La Mola penitentiary

On May 3, the chronicler Margarita Caules published an extensive article in her section “Xerradetes de Trepucó” of the Diario Menorca under the title “The penits and episodes of the dreaded La Mola penitentiary.”

The chronicle of the events experienced in the first person by the writer reflects how “some inmates tried to escape when the date of being transferred to another penitentiary approached, with that escape being the possibility of being admitted again to Mahón, always more protected and respected than in others where punishments and jobs would be harsher. As they themselves sometimes used to explain to the personnel of the La Mola tugboat, where would they go better treated, with more tranquility? ”

The writer continues recalling that “among the penitos there were very skilled men, some worked the wood making boxes that were covered with thousand-colored threads, with their lid and inside they placed a mirror as a jeweler. Others with silk spinning mounted authentic filigree, rugs, figurines, photo frames, on occasions they were exposed in the photography shop of Mr. Juanito Sturla in the Plaza del Carmen on the corner of the North.”

Margarita Caules comments that she also heard that “before the war, the first works began on what would become the first airport on the Sant Lluís road, where some of the penitents were employed.”

In short, it is an article that recalls a real episode that is part of the history of Menorca and that occurred in the Fortress of Isabel II.