Inside Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz': Strict Regulations, Daily Operations and Legal Challenges

Trump visited the facility in July and proposed it as a potential blueprint for future detention centers across the United States.

AFP

Florida:

Upon arrival at the immigration detention center in Florida's Everglades, commonly referred to as "Alligator Alcatraz," detainees receive color-coded uniforms and wristbands before being segregated based on criminal history and flight risk assessment, according to the facility's detainee handbook.

The handbook, included in legal documents from a lawsuit regarding attorney access, outlines stringent regulations for hygiene and attire, depicting an internal environment that sharply contradicts the deplorable conditions detainees reported following the facility's July opening.

This legal challenge represents one of three lawsuits filed by environmental and civil rights organizations concerning conditions at the detention center, which was constructed by Florida state authorities this summer and is operated by private contractors alongside state agencies.

A Miami federal judge ruled in August that the facility must cease operations within two months, siding with environmental groups who argued the remote airstrip location lacked proper environmental review before its conversion to an immigration detention center. However, operations continued after an appellate court panel suspended the preliminary injunction in early September.

President Donald Trump toured the facility in July, suggesting it could serve as a template for future detention centers nationwide as his administration seeks to expand infrastructure for increased deportations.

Civil rights organizations petitioned a Fort Myers federal judge on Monday for an injunction to halt the facility's detention operations. They contended that federal law prohibits state agencies or private contractors from conducting immigration detention, as this function belongs exclusively to the Department of Homeland Security, and that the facility was established "outside the normal channels for immigration detention, disregarding multiple limits and safeguards in federal law."

"Consequently, the facility faces numerous unprecedented problems: Individuals have been detained for weeks without removal charges. Detainees entering the facility disappear from standard detainee tracking systems," they stated in their preliminary injunction motion. "Physical conditions are atrocious."

However, the handbook submitted last week by Florida state authorities in the separate legal-access lawsuit indicates that detainees are informed that guards will enforce strict regulations regarding dress, hygiene, and behavior.

Detainees must watch an orientation video upon arrival. They may only keep prayer books, glasses, dentures, wedding rings, and small religious items like rosaries, and wear sandals with their uniforms. They receive soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, sheets, blankets, mattresses, and towels, according to the handbook.

The handbook states that detainees must never remove uniform shirts in housing units or recreational areas, and are prohibited from placing hands in their waistbands regardless of weather conditions, facing discipline for violations.

During regular headcounts, detainees are forbidden from moving or speaking. Violations can result in punishment for the individual and their entire dorm by being confined to their housing unit. Breakfast begins at 5:30 a.m. Meals are served in a dining hall where food removal is prohibited. Detainees segregated from the general population receive meals in their cells.

Barbering services are available, and detainees are expected to maintain regular bathing and clean hair. "Personal hygiene is essential," states the handbook. However, detainees reported in July that toilets frequently malfunction, flooding floors with waste, and that some go days without showering.

The facility includes a law library where detainees may spend up to five hours weekly.

In a separate court filing, Mark Saunders of The Nakamoto Group, a private contractor overseeing attorney access, disputed civil rights groups' claims that detainees lack confidential attorney-client communications. He stated that four rooms are dedicated to private attorney meetings, and facility guards do not read detainees' legal documents. According to Saunders, every detainee request for attorney meetings, whether in-person or via videoconference, has been granted.

The handbook also informs detainees that the facility maintains zero tolerance for sexual assault or abuse and employs a full-time investigator trained in sexual assault investigations. While emphasizing that sexual assault is never the victim's fault, the handbook suggests ways detainees can avoid it, such as declining gifts or favors and projecting confidence.

"Many attackers select victims who appear unlikely to resist or whom they perceive as emotionally vulnerable," the handbook states.