According to an attorney representing two detainees, guards at an immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida’s Everglades inflicted severe beatings and used pepper spray on migrants, resulting in injuries to their heads, shoulders, and wrists.
The incident reportedly occurred after detainees at this state-operated center voiced grievances about restricted phone access earlier this month. Attorney Katherine Blankenship detailed the events in a court statement.
For those detained, phones serve as a crucial link for communication with both family members and legal representatives. Unfortunately, the phones at the facility were not operational, exacerbating the detainees’ frustration.
Initially, guards mocked the detainees inside their cell. According to Blankenship, the situation escalated as the guards adopted a more aggressive stance, shouting and threatening to invade the cell.
Vehicles pass by the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility, nestled in Florida’s Everglades, located in Collier County. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The altercation intensified when a detainee approached a guard, resulting in the detainee being struck in the face. Subsequently, other detainees in the cell were also subjected to physical assaults by the guards.
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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