The state of Florida and the federal government filed notice that they plan to appeal a court order mandating changes at the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility.
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On March 27, a federal judge in Fort Myers issued an order addressing what immigration advocates call systemic civil rights violations inside the facility. The order called for visible signage with information on how to get legal help; phone lines for outgoing, confidential legal calls; and written, publicly available policies for attorney visits that do not need to be pre-scheduled.
The ACLU, representing the detainees and their lawyers in the lawsuit, accused the state and federal governments in court filings Friday of not complying with the order, stating that there is no signage, that the visitation policies were not posted online, and that facility staff were still requiring all attorneys to pre-schedule in-person client visits.
Friday's filings also claim that on April 2, all of the phone lines in the housing units were cut, eventually leading to a clash between detainees and guards. According to the filings, detainees were beaten and injured. The filings included a photo of one man with a black eye that was visible during a video call after the confrontation.
Less than an hour before a Monday afternoon status conference in the case, the ACLU updated its filings to say the defendants had since posted some of the visitation policies online. However, they still are not allowing attorneys to make unscheduled visits to see clients.
I reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which runs the facility.
“This matter is under active litigation, and we are unable to comment. The facility is managed by the State of Florida through the Division of Emergency Management, and we refer you to them for further comment,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesman replied in an email.
The spokesman declined to answer a follow-up question regarding the level of oversight ICE maintains at Alligator Alcatraz.
The state did not respond to questions about the new court filings. However, they told me last week they are currently getting quotes for the new phone lines.
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