Alligator Alcatraz, a state-run immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades, must provide detainees with better access to their lawyers under a preliminary court order issued Friday, according to federal court records. U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell said officials must ensure detainees can reach attorneys by phone through outgoing calls that are timely, free, and confidential, and that are not monitored or recorded.
The injunction also set a staffing-and-access standard for phones inside the facility. Judge Chappell ordered Alligator Alcatraz to provide at least one operable telephone for every 25 people held at the detention center.
In her ruling, Chappell also directed officials to make information available to detainees and their attorneys in multiple languages. The order required additional access-related details be provided to help attorneys communicate and coordinate with clients.
The dispute stems from claims that attorneys faced barriers reaching detained people and that those barriers interfered with legal deadlines. Attorneys previously filed statements in federal court in Fort Myers saying their clients could not call them using staff cellphones and that the attorneys were unable to make unannounced visits to the facility.
The lawsuit also alleged that detainees were sometimes transferred to other facilities before lawyers’ scheduled visits could occur. Lawyers said appointment rules requiring advance scheduling—along with scheduling delays—could prevent attorneys from meeting detainees before key immigration deadlines, according to the case filings described in the court proceedings.
At a January hearing over whether people held at Alligator Alcatraz were receiving adequate access to lawyers, a state contractor testified that both phone access and attorney visit access were available to detainees and attorneys. The testimony described options that defendants said addressed the access concerns raised by the plaintiffs.
Florida’s Department of Emergency Management, the state agency overseeing the detention center, did not respond to an emailed inquiry Friday, the Associated Press reported. The detention facility was built last summer at a remote airstrip, according to the report, as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration efforts tied to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Federal and state officials named as defendants in the lawsuit denied restricting attorney access and said security and staffing concerns explained any challenges. Federal officials also denied that detainees’ First Amendment rights were violated, according to the Associated Press account.