‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees say guards deny them food and clean water until they sign English documents

Detainees say they’re given ‘rotten’ water and denied meals for not signing papers in English that they don’t understand Detainees at Florida’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail said guards were denying them food and fresh water on Thursday until they signed documents presented to them in English that they did not understand. In an audio recording of a telephone call to an immigration advocacy group heard by the Guardian, more than half a dozen detainees alleged that the water given to them over the last three days was “rotten” and containing mosquito larvae, in an apparent attempt to pressure them to sign. Continue reading...

Richard Luscombe in Miami · Fri, Jun 5, 2026, 4:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees say guards deny them food and clean water until they sign English documents

Detainees say they’re given ‘rotten’ water and denied meals for not signing papers in English that they don’t understand

Detainees at Florida’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail said guards were denying them food and fresh water on Thursday until they signed documents presented to them in English that they did not understand.

In an audio recording of a telephone call to an immigration advocacy group heard by the Guardian, more than half a dozen detainees alleged that the water given to them over the last three days was “rotten” and containing mosquito larvae, in an apparent attempt to pressure them to sign.

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