When federal inspectors arrived unannounced at Florida’s Everglades detention facility — cruelly nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” — they found something no humane society should tolerate: metal cages barely 4 feet wide, used to confine people for “calming.”
Released on Sept. 11 by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, the report is a stark indictment of Florida’s experiment in immigration detention.
Until its closure in June, Alligator Alcatraz operated under a Section 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to serve as South Florida’s primary detention center. Its remote Everglades location made access for attorneys, families and oversight groups deliberately difficult.
The inspection revealed predictable
failures and shocking abuses by the facility’s operators: Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state of Florida and GEO Group, a major for‑profit prison contractor.
Inspectors found the facility failed to meet basic Florida Model Jail Standards and ICE’s 2019 National Detention Standards 2019. Medical care was inconsistent, food handling was unsafe and hygiene access was inadequate. Living spaces were just 28 square feet per person — far below the accepted 75‑square‑foot standard.
Alligator Alcatraz is closed, but the abuses that it employed as standard practice continue. The report warned about this possibility and named the Baker County facility (known as Deportation Depot) as an example demanding further scrutiny. The warning was merited.
Reports from Baker Correctional Institution — now Florida’s primary immigration detention site — indicate failures similar to those at Alligator Alcaraz. At a September news conference in Jacksonville, 11 advocacy organizations described detainees who were denied medication, delayed treatment and even shackled during seizures.
Families report food shortages and expired food being served.
Floridians, indeed, all Americans, should be alarmed that Baker and other state‑run detention facilities operate with little transparency and even less accountability. The inspector general's report noted that despite “consequential” issues, Baker was not scheduled for inspection in 2026 or 2027.
The public learns only what operators choose to reveal. Deaths may even go undisclosed, especially for detainees with no family contacts. The American Civil Liberties Union has documented lapses in care and mischaracterized causes of death at many ICE‑related facilities.
It is naïve to assume that Florida, with so many documented failures in other areas, does not fall short in reporting as well.
Rather than receiving the humane treatment ICE standards call for in official documents, detainees at Baker are held in a state prison environment, with punitive conditions, limited recreation, restricted movement and almost no visitation. In August, roughly 50 detainees launched a hunger strike demanding basic dignity.
The cruelty is inexcusable. Most immigration violations are civil infractions, not crimes, and research shows most people held for immigration violations have no criminal convictions. Yet Florida continues to treat civil detainees as dangerous felons.
The cruelty is also expensive. Florida has spent nearly $1 billion from its Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund on immigration enforcement in 2026, and has already approved an additional $240 million — with another $500 million expected before the end of the fiscal year. These monies were intended to protect and assist Floridians in the event of a major disaster.
The immigration challenges facing the United States are real, but Florida’s solutions are neither effective nor humane. They violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of due process for all “persons,” not only citizens. Current detention practices assault the dignity of people who, as a rule, came seeking safety, opportunity or family reunification.
Florida must shut down its cruel and expensive immigration detention program. Americans should stop tolerating and normalizing cruelty as a policy solution to the immigration challenges we face. It dehumanizes us.
The Right Rev. William H. Stokes served as the 12th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey from 2013 to 2023. A member of the steering committee for the Micah Solidarity Project of Northeast Florida, he lives in St. Augustine.
This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida must get out of immigrant detention business | Opinion
