Media Must Call Alligator Alcatraz a Torture Facility

The DHS inspector general confirmed Alligator Alcatraz used outdoor metal cages to confine detainees. But Amnesty International's interviews with former detainees tell a far worse story: 2×2-foot cages, ankles shackled to the floor, unable to sit, exposed to the Florida sun for hours with little water. Florida Gov. DeSantis's spokesperson responded to the cage photos with: "We'd make it even smaller if we could."

The OIG report itself shows signs of a cover-up. Flight records reveal a surge of Coast Guard planes removing detainees from the camp in the days just before the "unannounced" inspection — the same tactic used to fool Red Cross inspectors at Nazi concentration camps. A leading concentration camp historian reviewed the evidence and was unequivocal: what happened at Alligator Alcatraz was torture.

We call on the media to stop describing Alligator Alcatraz as a facility with "health and safety concerns." It was a torture site — one that used stress positions, sun exposure, isolation, and a deliberate cover-up to hide its abuses. The public deserves reporting that uses the word every expert, every human rights organization, and every former detainee arrives at on their own.