{
  "site": "https://trumpswarcrimes.com",
  "generatedAt": "2026-04-08T03:57:56.462Z",
  "record": {
    "slug": "alligator-alcatraz-detention-torture",
    "title": "Torture and Enforced Disappearances at 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Krome Detention Centers",
    "url": "https://trumpswarcrimes.com/incident/alligator-alcatraz-detention-torture",
    "date": "2025-09-01",
    "lastUpdated": "2026-03-25",
    "displayDate": "September 1, 2025",
    "displayLastUpdated": "March 25, 2026",
    "summary": "Florida immigration detention centers are sites of documented torture including a punitive cage device, prolonged solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, and enforced disappearances facilitated by the absence of any tracking system. At least six people died in Florida ICE facilities since October 2024.",
    "category": "deportation-to-torture",
    "categoryLabel": "Deportation to Torture",
    "severity": "extreme",
    "severityLabel": "War Crime / Crime Against Humanity",
    "posture": "reported",
    "postureLabel": "Reported record",
    "ongoing": true,
    "victims": "Immigration detainees held at Everglades Detention Facility ('Alligator Alcatraz') and Krome North Service Processing Center in Florida",
    "perpetrators": "ICE, Florida Department of Corrections, GEO Group (private prison operator)",
    "structuredVictims": [],
    "structuredPerpetrators": [],
    "legalBasis": "Convention Against Torture (Articles 1, 16), ICCPR (Articles 7, 9, 10), International Convention on Enforced Disappearance, Nelson Mandela Rules (Rules 43-46), Rome Statute Article 7(1)(e)(f)(i)",
    "tags": [
      "torture",
      "detention",
      "Alligator Alcatraz",
      "Krome",
      "enforced disappearance",
      "Amnesty International",
      "Florida",
      "solitary confinement"
    ],
    "keyPoints": [
      "Amnesty International conducted a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025 and published findings in December 2025 documenting systematic human rights violations at two immigration detention facilities",
      "'Alligator Alcatraz' (Everglades Detention Facility) operates OUTSIDE federal oversight, without the basic tracking systems used in ICE facilities — the absence of registration or tracking mechanisms facilitates incommunicado detention constituting enforced disappearance",
      "Detainees are placed in 'the box' — a 2x2 foot cage-like structure where they are restrained with hands and feet attached to the ground, sometimes for hours, exposed to the elements with minimal water — which Amnesty concluded amounts to torture",
      "Prolonged solitary confinement at Krome (exceeding 15 consecutive days per Nelson Mandela Rules) also amounts to torture under international law",
      "Conditions include overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into sleeping areas, limited access to showers, constant 24-hour lighting, exposure to insects, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy"
    ],
    "sourceCount": 3,
    "documentCount": 2,
    "updateCount": 0,
    "warCrimeClassification": "probable",
    "internationalLaw": [
      {
        "statute": "Convention Against Torture",
        "article": "Article 1",
        "provision": "Definition and absolute prohibition of torture — severe pain or suffering intentionally inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official"
      },
      {
        "statute": "Convention Against Torture",
        "article": "Article 16",
        "provision": "Prohibition on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment"
      },
      {
        "statute": "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights",
        "article": "Article 7",
        "provision": "No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"
      },
      {
        "statute": "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights",
        "article": "Article 9",
        "provision": "Right to liberty and security of person; prohibition on arbitrary detention"
      },
      {
        "statute": "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights",
        "article": "Article 10",
        "provision": "All persons deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for inherent dignity"
      },
      {
        "statute": "International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance",
        "article": "Article 2",
        "provision": "Prohibition on enforced disappearance: deprivation of liberty with concealment of fate or whereabouts"
      },
      {
        "statute": "UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules)",
        "article": "Rules 43-46",
        "provision": "Prohibition on prolonged solitary confinement (exceeding 15 consecutive days) and on indefinite solitary confinement; both constitute torture"
      },
      {
        "statute": "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court",
        "article": "Article 7(1)(e)",
        "provision": "Crimes against humanity — imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law"
      },
      {
        "statute": "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court",
        "article": "Article 7(1)(f)",
        "provision": "Crimes against humanity — torture"
      },
      {
        "statute": "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court",
        "article": "Article 7(1)(i)",
        "provision": "Crimes against humanity — enforced disappearance of persons"
      }
    ],
    "civilianCasualties": 6,
    "iccRelevance": false,
    "legalAnalyses": [
      {
        "title": "Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Krome in Florida",
        "url": "https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/0511/2025/en/",
        "organization": "Amnesty International"
      },
      {
        "title": "Amnesty International Report Details Human Rights Violations at Everglades and Krome Detention Centers",
        "url": "https://www.wgcu.org/top-story/2025-12-04/amnesty-international-report-details-human-rights-violations-at-everglades-and-krome-detention-centers",
        "organization": "WGCU / PBS"
      },
      {
        "title": "Human rights org reports 'torture,' 'inhumane' conditions at Alligator Alcatraz",
        "url": "https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2025/12/05/amnesty-international-report-alligator-alcatraz-inhumane-conditions",
        "organization": "Axios"
      }
    ],
    "description": "Amnesty International documented systematic torture, enforced disappearances, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment at the Everglades Detention Facility ('Alligator Alcatraz') and Krome North Service Processing Center in Florida. Detainees were held in a 2x2 foot cage called 'the box,' subjected to prolonged solitary confinement, and held incommunicado without registration or tracking, constituting enforced disappearance.",
    "relatedIncidents": [
      "solitary-confinement-surge",
      "ice-detention-deaths",
      "guantanamo-immigrant-detention",
      "systematic-bond-denial-indefinite-detention"
    ],
    "sources": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/0511/2025/en/",
        "title": "Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State",
        "publisher": "Amnesty International"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.wgcu.org/top-story/2025-12-04/amnesty-international-report-details-human-rights-violations-at-everglades-and-krome-detention-centers",
        "title": "Amnesty International Report Details Human Rights Violations at Everglades and Krome Detention Centers",
        "publisher": "WGCU / PBS"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2025/12/05/amnesty-international-report-alligator-alcatraz-inhumane-conditions",
        "title": "Human rights org reports torture, inhumane conditions at Alligator Alcatraz",
        "publisher": "Axios"
      }
    ],
    "documents": [
      {
        "title": "Full Amnesty International Report (PDF)",
        "url": "https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Torture-and-Enforced-Disappearances-in-the-Sunshine-State-Human-Rights-Violations-at-Alligator-Alcatraz-and-Krome-in-Florida.pdf",
        "publisher": "Amnesty International USA",
        "type": "Investigation report"
      },
      {
        "title": "Amnesty International USA Report Page",
        "url": "https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/torture-and-enforced-disappearances-in-the-sunshine-state-human-rights-violations-at-alligator-alcatraz-and-krome-in-florida/",
        "publisher": "Amnesty International USA",
        "type": "Report landing page"
      }
    ],
    "timeline": [
      {
        "date": "2025-01-20",
        "title": "Administration escalates immigration enforcement",
        "summary": "Trump administration takes office and begins escalating immigration enforcement operations in Florida."
      },
      {
        "date": "2025-09-01",
        "title": "Amnesty International conducts on-site research",
        "summary": "Amnesty International researchers visit southern Florida detention facilities for investigation."
      },
      {
        "date": "2025-12-04",
        "title": "Amnesty publishes torture report",
        "summary": "Amnesty International publishes 'Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State' documenting systematic abuses."
      },
      {
        "date": "2025-12-22",
        "title": "Independent verification",
        "summary": "Snopes independently verifies and reports on Amnesty International's findings."
      }
    ],
    "updateLog": [],
    "contentHtml": "<h2 id=\"overview\">Overview</h2>\n<p>In December 2025, Amnesty International published the results of a September 2025 research trip to two immigration detention facilities in southern Florida: the Everglades Detention Facility, known as \"Alligator Alcatraz,\" and the Krome North Service Processing Center. The investigation documented treatment that meets the international legal definition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and enforced disappearance.</p>\n<h2 id=\"the-box\">The Box</h2>\n<p>The most severe finding involves a punitive device at Alligator Alcatraz called \"the box\" — a 2x2 foot cage-like structure in which detainees are restrained with their hands and feet attached to the ground. People are placed in the box for hours at a time, exposed to the elements with minimal water. Under established international law standards, including the Nelson Mandela Rules and Convention Against Torture, this practice constitutes torture.</p>\n<h2 id=\"enforced-disappearances\">Enforced Disappearances</h2>\n<p>Alligator Alcatraz operates entirely outside federal oversight. Unlike ICE facilities, it has no registration or tracking systems for detainees. When the whereabouts of a detained person are denied to their family and they are prevented from contacting their lawyer, this meets the legal definition of enforced disappearance under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance — a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.</p>\n<h2 id=\"expert-assessment\">Expert Assessment</h2>\n<p>Amnesty International concluded that the use of prolonged solitary confinement at Krome and the use of \"the box\" at Alligator Alcatraz amount to torture or other ill-treatment. The organization called for the immediate closure of Alligator Alcatraz and prohibition of any state-run immigration detention in Florida.</p>",
    "citation": "Torture and Enforced Disappearances at 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Krome Detention Centers. https://trumpswarcrimes.com/incident/alligator-alcatraz-detention-torture. Published September 1, 2025. Updated March 25, 2026."
  }
}