Several Florida nonprofits, medical professionals, public health experts and families of detainees held at the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in the Everglades are calling for the site to be shut down due to what they are calling inhumane conditions and environmental damage.
On Tuesday morning, they held a news conference outside the facility to outline what they say are dangerous conditions.
Alligator Alcatraz detainees report poor conditions inside camp
Tents are used to house the detainees at the hastily constructed camp erected at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
Detainees have said the cages where they are forced to sleep are crowded and the food is sub-standard. Some have said they’ve gone days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and at times the air conditioners for the tents abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat. They’ve said their drinking water comes from toilet spigots and sometimes the toilets back up, spilling feces onto the ground.
“From the toilets and sink systems they use, which, if not cleaned regularly, can cause serious environmental contamination. We also understand there are temperature control issues in the cages. Sustained exposure to heat will not only help propagate germs and viruses but can also cause severe health issues up to cardiac arrest. This kind of treatment to human beings is not the American way,” Tessa Petit, the co-executive director of the Florida Immigration Coalition, said in a statement.
Armen Henderson, executive director at Dade County Street Response, said the conditions are a blatant assault on human rights.
“By imprisoning innocent people in tents surrounded by fences and barbed wire, with no proper sanitation, it is nothing less than a concentration camp. This is a public health crisis unfolding in our own backyard,” he said in a statement.
Florida officials deny accusations of inhumane conditions at Alligator Alcatraz
Florida officials have denied the allegations, and say facility meets the standards required by law.
“There is a 24/7, fully staffed medical facility with pharmacy on site and there is working air conditioning throughout the facility,” a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) told CBS News Miami on July 18.
In a previous statement about accusations of inhumane treatment at the facility by Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura and other detainees, FDEM said the allegations were “completely false.”
“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for FDEM, on July 9.
FDEM was the engine behind Alligator Alcatraz, using the state’s emergency management tools and funding to build, staff and operate the detention facility.
The state has estimated it will cost roughly $450 million a year to operate the detention facility.
Activists want site Alligator Alcatraz shut down
The Florida Immigrant Coalition and its partners are calling on the state to immediately evacuate the camp and close down the facility. They also want emergency health screenings and care for all current and recently released detainees.
They are also demanding full legal access for detainees and independent inspections of conditions. Detainees have reportedly been denied legal counsel through standard processes.
