Attorneys for two immigrants detained at Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" say guards severely beat and pepper-sprayed detainees after they complained on April 2 about losing access to working phones, according to court filings and sworn statements.
The allegations, which have not been resolved in court, say the phones were the detainees' main way to contact family members and lawyers. The claims were filed as part of a broader legal fight over whether officials at the state-run immigration facility were complying with a federal judge's order on phone access for detainees.
Attorney Katherine Blankenship said in a declaration that guards taunted detainees in a cell, then became more aggressive and threatened to enter the cage. She said one detainee was punched in the face after approaching a guard, and that the violence spread to other people held inside, according to ABC News.
Blankenship said one of her clients was punched in the right eye, thrown to the floor, beaten by several guards, kicked in the head, and injured in the shoulder and arm. She also said another detainee's wrist was broken during the incident, and that a guard pressed a knee into one detainee's neck while restraining him.
According to the filings, phone service was restored the next day without explanation. The Florida Department of Emergency Management did not respond to emailed questions about the incident, and state officials have previously denied restricting access to attorneys, citing security and staffing concerns.
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The court dispute centers on a preliminary injunction issued last month by U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell in Fort Myers, who ordered detention center officials to provide timely, free, confidential, unmonitored, and unrecorded outgoing legal calls, CBS News reported. She also said the facility must provide at least one operable telephone for every 25 detainees.
The Everglades facility was built last summer at a remote airstrip by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to support President Donald Trump's immigration policies, according to the reporting cited in the filings. During a recent visit, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, said she was not allowed to speak with detainees and described conditions as "inhumane."
The claims add to continuing scrutiny of detention conditions at "Alligator Alcatraz," which opened in 2025 and has faced criticism over access to lawyers, treatment of detainees and living conditions. Amnesty International said in a December report that conditions at the facility were cruel, inhuman, and degrading, though that report did not address the April 2 allegations specifically, as per Amnesty USA.
