At a detention facility known colloquially as “Alligator Alcatraz,” located in the Florida Everglades, guards allegedly inflicted severe physical abuse on migrant detainees, reportedly using pepper spray and causing injuries to their heads, shoulders, and wrists. This information comes from an attorney representing two of the affected individuals.
According to attorney Katherine Blankenship, the incident was triggered when several detainees at this state-operated center voiced grievances about inadequate access to phone services earlier this month. In a formal statement, she outlined that the guards responded to these complaints with hostility.
For those held within the facility, phones serve as the primary link to both family members and legal counsel. However, detainees found themselves unable to use this vital communication tool due to technical issues.
The conflict reportedly escalated when guards began to mock the detainees while they were confined in a cell. Blankenship described a situation where the guards’ hostility intensified, culminating in threats to forcibly enter the cell.
Vehicles pass by the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center nestled in the Florida Everglades, within Collier County. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
One detainee was punched in the face after walking up to a guard. The guards then began beating other detainees in the cell.
Blankenship said one of her clients was punched in the right eye, thrown to the floor and beaten by several guards. She said guards kicked him in the head and injured his shoulder and arm. A guard also put his knee on the detainee’s neck while restraining him, according to the attorney.
Included in the declaration is a photo taken during a video call nearly a week after the beating showing the detainee with a bruised eye.
“The officers beat several people during this incident and broke another detained individual’s wrist,” Blankenship wrote, noting that the detainee whose wrist was broken is not among her clients.
Phone service was restored the following day, although officials failed to provide any explanation as to why it was cut off.
The detention facility was constructed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. (Getty Images)
Blankenship’s declaration was part of a court filing alleging that state and federal officials have not complied with a federal judge’s preliminary injunction last month ordering the detention center to offer detainees access to timely, free, confidential, unmonitored and unrecorded calls with their attorneys.
U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell directed officials to provide at least one operable telephone for every 25 people held in the facility.
The judge’s order came after a lawsuit that argued that officials at the facility were violating detainees’ First Amendment rights.
State officials have denied claims of restricting detainees’ access to their attorneys, pointing to security and staffing issues for any cutoffs. Federal officials, who are also defendants in the case, denied that detainees’ First Amendment rights were violated.
Last week, state officials filed a notice saying they intend to appeal the judge’s ruling.
The facility has been slapped with several lawsuits since it was built over the summer.
Workers install an “Alligator Alcatraz” sign in Collier County, Florida. (Getty Images)
The detention facility was constructed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s plan to mass detain and deport migrants. Officials in the Sunshine State also built a second immigration detention center in northern Florida.
During a visit last week to the detention center, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she was not given the opportunity to speak with detainees.
The lawmaker also described conditions at the detention center as “inhumane” and “cruel.”
“The way the detainees are housed is cruel and unnecessary,” she said.
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