The government has confirmed that detainees at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” federal immigration jail were kept inside outdoor metal cages that measured no larger than phone booths, a practice that went on long after officials said it was not happening. Theguardian’s report states that this treatment did not meet accepted standards for humane care.
One of the administration’s own agencies has made a rare turn against it, publishing findings from the office of the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on its website.
The Cage Practice, Confirmed
The detainees held at the isolated Florida Everglades camp were often locked inside cramped metal containers for stretches lasting up to two hours. These cages measured roughly 18 square feet, far below the minimum 37 square feet set by ICE’s published national detention standards for quarters meant to house just one person.
In December, the Guardian reported on a dossier from Amnesty International that detailed multiple alleged human rights abuses at the camp. The dossier described detainees being shackled outside in metal cages for hours, exposed to brutal heat, sunshine and swarms of mosquitoes — all while directly contravening ICE rules.
DeSantis’ False Denials
A spokesperson for Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor whose administration ran Alligator Alcatraz on behalf of the federal government, dismissed the claims at the time as “fabrications.” The governor’s office also called the Amnesty report “a politically motivated attack.”
DeSantis’s office refused on Monday to explain why it had falsely denied using the cages. Instead, it tried to describe the detainees — without any proof — as “violent criminal aliens who have proven they cannot remain peaceful while awaiting deportation.”.
Alex Lanfranconi, DeSantis’s communications manager, said in a statement that “the leftwing media wants to focus on a confinement area” which “adheres to all federal standards for criminal confinement.” His statement added: “We’d make it even smaller if we could.”
The Inspector General’s Findings
The report exposed numerous failings found during an unannounced January 2026 visit by DHS inspectors to Alligator Alcatraz, which they refer to as the Florida Soft-Sided Facility (FSSF). Many of the shortcomings, they said, posed “significant risks to detainee health and safety.”
“FSSF did not provide detainees with sufficient living space, creating cramped conditions for detainees who spent most of their time in their housing units, which may harm detainees’ physical and mental health,” the report said.
Inspectors studied records revealing 79 instances between July 2025 and January 2026 in which guards placed detainees in the metal cages. The inspector general’s discovery of cases in January means detainees were still being confined in the cramped cages more than a month after Amnesty International exposed the practice and DeSantis’s office denied it was taking place.
Staff Claims vs. Inspector General
In March, two Democratic US senators — Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Dick Durbin of Illinois — raised concerns about the cages that detainees refer to as “The Box.”. The report noted those worries, but said facility staff insisted the cages were used as “calming areas” for detainees “to deescalate and have time alone.”.
The report noted that “Staff further maintained that detainees asked to spend time” were present among them.
Inspectors discovered that a cage had been employed as a means of punishment at least once, when it was applied to a detainee who “failed to comply with a lawful command.”. The report also records that locking devices were fitted to these cages.
“Use of these small metal enclosures for any reason is unprecedented among ICE facilities inspected by OIG,” the report said. “Confining individuals in small metal enclosures for any reason presents significant risks to detainee health and wellbeing.”
Other Failings at the Camp
While walking through the detention rooms, kitchen and bathroom areas, the inspectors recorded a number of extra issues:
- Overcrowding
- A lack of sufficient recreation time for detainees
- Inoperable telephones preventing detainees from contacting their attorneys or families
- Poor food hygiene standards leading to the risk of contamination and illness
In January, several people being held told the inspectors that they did not have enough clean water or proper sanitation.
The Shutdown and Its Cost
In June, the notorious immigration jail shut down following a year of operation during which DeSantis boasted of detaining and deporting more than 21,000 immigrants. The reason given by officials was the danger of keeping detainees in tents during hurricane season.
The day-to-day expense of keeping the camp running had turned into a political burden, according to critics. Legal cases were piling up over the jail’s effect on the fragile Florida wetlands, and the rough treatment of detainees, which several Democratic lawmakers compared to “torture.”, drew further complaint.
As the report is made public, people are asking whether the shutdown was truly about protecting against hurricane danger or whether it was instead a way for the administration to distance itself from a facility dogged by scandal.
What Amnesty International Said
The director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, Amy Fischer, made remarks in a statement. She said: “The findings confirm what we documented months ago: the horrific treatment of people detained at Alligator Alcatraz was real, not a hoax, as Trump administration officials were on the record saying.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and chief executive of Global Refuge, an organization that advocates for immigration issues, issued a statement. He spoke through it, saying “There is no euphemism that can sanitize caging human beings. Calling a metal box a ‘calming area’ is an affront to the English language and to human dignity alike.”.
“The stark reality is that human beings, many of whom came to this country seeking protection, were crammed into spaces unfit to accommodate them, denied adequate medical care, food and basic hygiene. That is not immigration enforcement. It is cruelty.”
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.