Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ found to operate in inhuman, unsanitary, and unregulated conditions

Krome detention centre plagued by overcrowding, medical neglect, and violent abuse

‘These findings confirm a deliberate system built to punish, dehumanise, and hide the suffering of people in detention’ - Ana Piquer

Amnesty International today released a new report exposing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment at two immigration detention centres in Florida: the Everglades Detention Facility (“Alligator Alcatraz”) and the Krome North Service Processing Center.

The 61-page report - Torture and enforced disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human rights violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida - reveals human rights violations that, in some cases amount to torture, occurring at Krome and “Alligator Alcatraz” within an increasingly hostile anti-immigrant climate in Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis, whose administration has intensified criminalisation and mass detention of migrants and people seeking safety. Findings were gathered during a September 2025 research mission. 

“Alligator Alcatraz”: a Florida State-run human rights disaster 

The research concluded that people arbitrarily detained in “Alligator Alcatraz” are living in inhuman and unsanitary conditions including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24-hours-a-day, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy – including cameras above the toilets.  

People interviewed shared that access to medical care is inconsistent, inadequate, or denied all together, placing individuals at serious risk of physical and mental harm. People reported being always shackled when they were outside their cell. Other treatment which those detained have endured amounts to torture, including being put in “the box”, a 2x2 foot cage-like structure as punishment – sometimes for hours at a time, exposed to the elements with hardly any water – with their hands and feet attached to restraints on the ground.  

“Alligator Alcatraz” operates outside federal oversight, without the basic registration or tracking systems used in ICE facilities constituting enforced disappearances when the whereabouts of a person being detained there is denied to their family, and they are not allowed to contact their lawyer.   

Krome: overcrowded, chaotic, and dangerous 

At ICE’s Krome Detention Center, operated by a private for-profit company, the research confirmed that despite having medical facilities on site, those detained reported serious medical negligence including failure to provide treatments and medical assessments. People detained at Krome confirmed previous reports of human rights violations. For example, there were reports of overcrowding, prolonged and arbitrary solitary confinement, lack of adequate medical care, overflowing toilets, lack of access to showers, constant illumination, and broken air conditioning.  

People shared stories of violence and ill-treatment from guards. Amnesty staffers witnessed a guard violently slam a metal flap of a door to a solitary confinement room against a man’s injured hand. Other people reported being hit and punched by guards. People also reported difficulty in accessing counsel and not knowing how long they would be detained nor what would happen next. 

“Everybody who’s in a detention facility is suffering”: immigration enforcement and detention in Florida 

In February, Florida passed extreme and discriminatory immigration laws that are putting immigrant communities at grave risk. The expansion of 287(g) agreements that deputise local law enforcement to act as immigration officials and detain people for immigration purposes have led to wrongful arrests, racial profiling, and widespread fear that prevents families from accessing schools, hospitals, and other essential services. 

Florida has become a testing ground for abusive immigration enforcement policies, closely aligned with the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant and racist agenda. Under Governor Ron DeSantis, the state has intensified the criminalisation of migration and relied on sweeping emergency powers to rapidly scale up mass detention. Since January 2005, Florida has increased the number of people in immigrant detention by more than 50 percent. Between June and August this year alone, the state issued 34 no-bid contracts totalling more than US$360 million for “Alligator Alcatraz”, with annual operating costs projected at US$450 million - all while cutting billions from essential health, food security, emergency response, and housing programmes.  

Immigration detention in the United States has a long record of abuses. President Trump has increased its use by nearly 70% since his first term, while conditions in detention have sharply deteriorated. Of the at least 24 people who have died in ICE custody since October 2024, six deaths occurred in Florida facilities, including four at Krome.  

Urgent Reforms Needed in Florida and Federal Immigration Detention

Amnesty is calling on both the government of Florida and the US government to address systemic human rights violations within immigration detention facilities. Amnesty urges Florida officials to close Alligator Alcatraz and to prohibit the use of any state-run immigration detention. The state must end the misuse of emergency powers, halt all no-bid procurement, and redirect detention funding towards essential health care, housing, and disaster-relief programmes. The recommendations also include banning shackling, solitary confinement, and punitive outdoor confinement; ensuring confidential access to legal counsel and interpretation services; conducting transparent and independent investigations into torture and medical neglect; and establishing meaningful, independent oversight for all detention facilities. 

At the federal level, the US government must end its cruel mass immigration detention machine, stop the criminalisation of migration, and bar the use of state-owned facilities for federal immigration custody. The US government must ensure thorough investigations into all deaths, allegations of torture in custody and other abuses, and comply with international human rights standards. Also, the federal government must undertake a comprehensive review of ICE contracts with state and private actors to ensure human rights compliance, the restoration of protections for “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals, and churches, and increased federal funding to support universal legal representation and interpretation services in immigration proceedings. 

Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Director for the Americas, said:

“These findings confirm a deliberate system built to punish, dehumanise, and hide the suffering of people in detention.

“Immigration enforcement cannot operate outside the rule of law or exempt itself from human rights standards. What we are seeing in Florida should alarm the entire region.

“These despicable and nauseating conditions at Alligator Alcatraz reflect a pattern of deliberate neglect designed to dehumanise and punish those detained there. Krome’s extreme overcrowding, medical neglect, and reports of humiliating and degrading treatment paint a picture of harrowing human right violations.

“The choice to prioritise punishment, dehumanisation and cruelty over public welfare is as shortsighted as it is appalling. The conditions we documented at Alligator Alcatraz and Krome are not isolated – instead they represent a deliberate system of cruelty designed to punish people seeking to build a new life in the US.

“We must stop detaining our immigrant community members and people seeking safety and instead work towards humane, rights-respecting migration policies.”