An unnamed former staff member at Alligator Alcatraz, President Donald Trump’s controversial US immigrant detention center, has revealed what it’s really like inside the ‘prison.’ The worker called the conditions ‘inhumane’ for both staff and detainees, and shared that things got so bad, he quit after three weeks. He called his experience at the 3,000-bed facility, which costs a reported $450 million a year to run, ’emotionally and mentally draining’.

During his three-week stint, the worker said detainee numbers went from approximately 2,700 to just 35. Now, it appears the center is closing down for good. The Department of Homeland Security says detainees are being moved from the facility in compliance with a district judge’s order after ruling that it violated federal environmental law. The judge ordered it to close within 60 days last month. The camp was built deep in the Florida Everglades; the surrounding swampland is brimming with alligators, pythons and mosquitoes. It’s thought this location was picked to repel detainees from escaping.

Last month, Metro reported that when the first journalists were allowed onto the site, they described thousands of detainees being crammed into cages and fed limited rations. The former worker backed these claims up, revealing that inmates were only allowed to shower every three days. They also noted this was the only time they were allowed to leave their cells. In addition, the ‘prisoners’ were also refused vital medication, such as blood, seizure, or heart medication.

‘I heard a nurse say she didn’t have to give someone medicine if she didn’t want to,’ the former worker said, adding that they saw ‘a lot of guys who weren’t getting treated for four to five days’. He recalled a person who had an infected leg who collapsed and had to be stretchered out due to a lack of treatment. ‘I tried to help someone, I was reminded they were detainees and not to help them’.

The correction officer expanded: ‘These guys would be in their cell for three days with no sunlight. They were allowed to be outside for 25 minutes every three days, and that was when they showered. They were treated like prisoners of war, most of those guys in there were working citizens – people who had their own businesses. They would only let the prisoners shower every three days, which is inhumane. Even in state penitentiaries, you get a shower every day’ .

The former worker also explained that detainees were classified. Those with a red band meant they had a criminal record, orange meant they had a misdemeanor, and yellow meant they had no criminal past. They specifically noted that the majority of inmates they interacted with had yellow bands. And still, staff ‘were expected to be a certain level of mean’ to the detainees. ‘I would look at them, and I just couldn’t do it’.

It wasn’t just detainees treated badly, either, according to the staff member. Workers were also treated poorly and ‘unfairly.’ Staff were required to live on site, and correctional officers were reportedly not allowed to leave their rooms unless they were on shift. ‘By the end of my time there, they were treating us like the detainees. We weren’t allowed out of our room unless we were working’.

A spokesperson for Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director, has disputed the claims. They said: ‘Detainees receive three meals per day, have access to indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, 24/7 access to a fully staffed medical facility – which has a pharmacy on site, as well as clean, working facilities for hygiene’. 

https://metro.co.uk/galleries/officer-who-worked-at-alligator-alcatraz-reveals-inhumane-living-conditions-24048847