Ex-Alligator Alcatraz Employee Reveals Just How Bad It Is

Detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” are being kept in a “human-sized kennel,” according to a former corrections officer at Donald Trump’s wetland-themed concentration camp.

In an exclusive interview with NBC6, Lindsey, who was identified by only her first name, said that people being held at the hastily constructed immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades were being treated like animals. 

“It’s inhumane the way that they’re keeping their residents,” she told NBC6. 

Lindsey described each tent at the facility as having eight large cages, housing 35 to 38 inmates, so around 300 per tent. “They have no sunlight. There’s no clock in there. They don’t even know what time of the day it is. They have no access to showers. They shower every other day or every four days,” she said. 

Detainees have previously alleged identical horrific conditions, claiming that they had no access to water and had not been allowed to bathe.  

Lindsey said that rain had been a problem, sending water pouring into the tents. Last month, there were reports of extensive flooding at the facility. 

She also reported that there had been similar problems with the employee housing, which was a shared trailer. “We had to use the porta-johns. We didn’t have hot water half the time. Our bathrooms were backed up,” Lindsey said.

Human Rights Watch reported nearly 72 percent of people detained by Immigration Customs Enforcement had no criminal history. Lindsey similarly told NBC6 that “not everybody there is a criminal.”

Lindsey said she’d worked at the facility for about a week before contracting Covid-19, after which she was fired, having been accused of “altering medical paperwork” submitted to Gardaworld, the private security company responsible for staffing “Alligator Alcatraz.” She said she was “pissed off” about being fired. 

“But more so than ever, like, they’re doing wrong,” she added.

Judges overseeing lawsuits against the facility are still attempting to determine who has actual authority over it, as the federal government has failed to produce an official agreement between Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and the Department of Homeland Security.