DHS Watchdog Finds Alligator Alcatraz Held Detainees in Cages the Size of Phone Booths

A report by the DHS Office of Inspector General, based on an unannounced January 2026 inspection of the Florida Soft-Sided Facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” found 79 instances between July 2025 and January 2026 in which guards placed detainees in outdoor metal cages for up to two hours at a time, a practice it said “does not align with standards for humane treatment.” Each cage offered about 18 square feet of floor space, less than half the 37-square-foot minimum in ICE’s national detention standards; staff called them “calming areas,” but inspectors documented at least one disciplinary use and said the enclosures were “unprecedented among ICE facilities inspected by OIG.” Inspectors also cited overcrowding, insufficient recreation time, inoperable phones, poor food hygiene and detainee reports of limited or no access to clean drinking water. Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office, which had called Amnesty International’s earlier cage allegations “fabrications,” said the confinement area “adheres to all federal standards for criminal confinement.” The facility closed in June.