New documents show the efforts Florida is making to connect attorneys with their clients at Alligator Alcatraz, the first state-run migrant detention center in the country.
WPTV obtained about 200 pages of emails Florida submitted in federal court before sealing them from public view.
WATCH: Attorneys say state is leaving out weeks of requests
The state argues the records prove detainees’ right to legal counsel is being protected, but attorneys included in those records tell WPTV the state is leaving out weeks of requests that paint an incomplete picture of the process.
For example, records the state submitted to a federal judge show Yaniv Nahon asked to visit the facility to meet his client on Aug. 4. Those records show the state allowed the Miami-based immigration attorney to visit the facility on Aug. 7 and asked him to arrive 15 minutes early.
But Nahon told WPTV he was asking for permission to visit the facility two weeks earlier in July. Those emails weren’t included in the state's filing submitted on Friday.
Nahon said he was surprised to see a response from the “legal@privacy6.com” email address, to the point where he missed the initial email. He said he arrived to the armed checkpoint at Alligator Alcatraz with the email thread, but the National Guard members working at the gate were confused and didn’t let him in initially.
“At first the National Guard said we’re not allowing visits,” Nahon said. “I showed them all the emails back and forth agreeing to allow me in and it took me close to an hour before they brought the person out there to confirm the actual visit would happen.”
WATCH: New docs show various state agencies operate inside Alligator Alcatraz
Nahon, according to records submitted to federal court, was one of dozens of attorneys who tried to get access to their clients. Other attorneys WPTV contacted said they reached out to the state other times to get into the facility to meet with their clients that weren’t included in the state’s submission to a federal judge.
WPTV reached out to a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) about the omissions, but we’re still waiting to hear back by publication.
The filing was attached to a declaration from Mark Saunders, a vice president of The Nakamoto Group. The company, according to its website, specializes in corrections and security, and is one of the contractors operating the facility.
He said the facility has performed 68 meetings between clients and their attorneys since July 28, the first day in-person meetings occurred. For perspective, the facility opened July 2 and holds about 2,000 inmates. Saunders told a federal judge more attorneys are requesting video conferences with their clients, but didn’t reveal how many calls have occurred since the first call on July 15.
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Saunders said infrastructure problems stopped the facility from conducing these visits with legal counsel as well as poor weather, internet outages or operational delays.
“Upon opening, however, it took time for contractors to build up the infrastructure and install the equipment needed for these meetings,” he said. “Those issues have been resolved.”
The state also submitted its visitation policy for the South Detention Facility, which is dated July 8. The logo for Critical Response Strategies, another vendor hired to operate the facility, is on the policy header.
The policy refers to itself as ICE/Enforcement and Removal Operations' (ERO) policy and gives the Department of Homeland Security the ability to audit visitor logs. The policy also allows media representatives to coordinate visits and tours with ICE and ERO and even photograph detainees with their written consent.
The records the state submitted also show most attorneys wanted to visit their clients virtually through video conferences. However, those records also show some attorneys struggling to reach their clients, including some attorneys from out of state.
Nick Tuttle, a personal injury attorney from Indianapolis, said in one email his friend was a legal immigrant and was wrongly detained at Alligator Alcatraz. He said he was trying to help out his friend, who just recently got engaged to a close family friend.
"Despite being legal, he was detained by ICE and has been in detention since last week without a hearing or due process,” Tuttle wrote on July 8. “Please contact me as soon as possible advising of how I can remove him from detention. We believe he is being wrongfully detained.”
Tuttle told WPTV he and his client would not like to comment on the situation.
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