Immigration

'Alligator Alcatraz' Held Detainees in Small Metal Cages, Inspector General Report Finds

An inspection of the now-closed detention camp found overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and an "unprecedented" use of small metal cells to confine detainees.

C.J. Ciaramella | 9.14.2026 5:15 PM

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(Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General)

Detainees at Florida's now-closed "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention camp were held in phone booth–sized cages as punishment, a Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) report released Monday found.

In addition to finding numerous other violations of humane detention standards, the DHS OIG audit offers a rare account of conditions inside the secretive facility, and it partially confirms accounts by former detainees, published last year by Amnesty International and several media outlets, that they were punished by being put in "the box," a small metal cage.

OIG inspectors who performed an unannounced inspection in January of the Florida Soft-Sided Facility (FSSF), the official name for the facility, found that the detention camp used metal cages measuring 4 feet by 7 feet for what officials described as "calming areas."

Detainees previously described being shackled in the cage for hours in the sun without water. The OIG couldn't confirm or refute those allegations. Neither could it independently verify FSSF officials' claims that detainees were kept in the cages under a shaded awning for no longer than two hours and given water on request.

In any case, the cages alarmed the OIG. The report said........

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