Guards at an immigration jail in Florida allegedly denied detainees food and clean water on Thursday to pressure them into signing English documents they could not understand, as reported by The Guardian.
More than half a dozen individuals held at the "Alligator Alcatraz" tented facility in the Florida Everglades detailed the abuses during a recorded telephone call to an immigration advocacy group.
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The detainees reported that the facility provided contaminated water containing mosquito larvae over a three-day period prior to withholding it entirely.
During the telephone call, the undocumented men disclosed their identities, cell numbers, and specific medical vulnerabilities to the advocacy representatives.
"They took all the water, and they don't want to give us water," said one unnamed detainee.
The individual noted that guards withheld lunch and delayed essential medical access for individuals with chronic illnesses, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
"They haven't given us lunch, and they are mistreating us here.
Right now, at this very moment, half past one in the afternoon, we haven't had lunch here in Alcatraz, and they wanted to make us sign a paper in English that we don't know what that paper says," said the detainee.
According to the caller, the facility previously ignored multiple complaints regarding water contamination before chants broke out when the water supply was removed completely.
"They've taken reprisals with us for not taking that paper, not signing that paper. They took away the water and medicine to people who need medication.
Today the medicine came very late, but here we have people here who are diabetic, one here with high blood pressure," said the detainee.
The caller further described the visual state of the withheld liquid assets provided to the inmates inside the cells.
"The water has pests, the water has a bad taste, [you] open the water tubs and they have mosquito larvae," said the detainee.
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A separate inmate from the same section corroborated the details regarding the contamination and confirmed that compliance with the guards had not occurred.
"Stinky and rotten," said another unnamed detainee.
The facility, operated by the state of Florida on behalf of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is reportedly scheduled to wind down operations in June ahead of a permanent closure following numerous civil rights complaints.
Noelle Damico, director of social justice for the Workers Circle advocacy group, stated that the actions appeared to be an escalation to force the detainees to consent to deportation.
"They're being asked by guards to sign documents that they cannot fully see, nor do they understand," said Noelle Damico.
Damico characterized the documented conditions as severe violations of national and international legal protections.
"The water in the past three days has been unusually disgusting with mosquito larvae, dirt in it, and tasting absolutely rotten.
So that predates today, now they've removed the water," said Noelle Damico.
The Workers Circle representative confirmed that breakfast had been served normally before the subsequent lunch deprivation began.
"They were fed breakfast this morning, but lunch was withheld. This is an outrageous violation of basic human rights under international and national law," said Noelle Damico.
The Florida department of emergency management, which oversees the private guard operations, previously denied all allegations of abuse at the facility.
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"Medical facilities and staff, including a pharmacy, are available 24/7 to detainees," said Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for the Florida department of emergency management.
