Lawyer alleges GardaWorld guards beat, pepper-sprayed detainees at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' facility

On April 2, 2026, guards at the state-run "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades allegedly beat and pepper-sprayed several detainees inside a locked cell, according to a sworn court declaration filed by attorney Katherine Blankenship. Blankenship's declaration states that the guards, employed by facility security contractor GardaWorld Federal Services, began taunting detainees held in the cell and grew "more aggressive," yelling and threatening to enter, before one detainee was punched in the face after approaching a guard. Per the declaration, several guards then allegedly beat other detainees in the cell: one of Blankenship's clients was allegedly punched in the right eye, thrown to the floor, kicked in the head, and restrained with a guard's knee on his neck, injuring his shoulder and arm; a second detainee had his wrist allegedly broken. Blankenship's declaration states the alleged assaults followed detainees' complaints that the facility's phones — their only means of confidential contact with family and counsel — were not working; phone service was restored the next day, with no explanation offered for the outage.

Blankenship filed the declaration as part of ongoing litigation alleging that Florida and federal officials have failed to comply with a federal preliminary injunction issued the previous month by U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell, which required the facility to provide at least one working, confidential telephone line for every 25 detainees. State officials have denied restricting attorney access, citing security and staffing issues, and federal officials — also named as defendants — denied any First Amendment violation and filed notice of their intent to appeal the underlying order. The Everglades facility was built in 2025 to support the Trump administration's mass-detention and deportation operations and is administered by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which contracts security operations to GardaWorld Federal Services. The ACLU of Florida and Sanctuary of the South separately alleged that guards employed by contractor Critical Response Strategies and/or federal and state agents committed an unprovoked physical assault on detainees on April 2, 2026, and demanded accountability for what they described as a cover-up of the violence.

Updates

2026-06-25 — Governor DeSantis announced facility closure; all detainees transferred [5, 6, 7, 8]

Governor Ron DeSantis announced on June 25, 2026 that the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility had completed its mission and all remaining detainees had been transferred to other federal facilities. DeSantis stated that Florida's support "led to nearly 30,000 additional deportations." The facility, which opened in July 2025, operated for approximately one year before demobilization began.