“Alligator Alcatraz” heads toward permanent closure, the U.S. deportation center was used for only about a year

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that the U.S. deportation prison “Alligator Alcatraz” will close after about a year in operation. The facility had long been under criticism for its harsh conditions.

This center, known for its negative reputation linked to Alcatraz and turned into a symbol of the harsh deportation policy of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, is now ending its operations. The announcement was made by Republican Ron DeSantis, who leads the state of Florida.

According to DeSantis, there are currently no detainees left at the Everglades facility. He explained that the center had been intended from the outset as an emergency measure. Recently, U.S. media have reported that the high operating costs may have been among the reasons that led to its closure.

Alligators were supposed to prevent escapes

At the beginning of June, authorities announced the temporary closure of the facility, arguing that during hurricane season it was not safe for detainees to remain in the Florida Everglades. All of them were transferred to other centers. Now its permanent closure is approaching.

U.S. authorities built the prison directly in the swamp, with the aim of ensuring that no prisoner would attempt to escape out of fear of the alligators. DeSantis said that “very dangerous people” were deported through “Alligator Alcatraz.” According to him, more than 22,000 prisoners in total have passed through the center.

Criticism over detention conditions

The facility was built in just eight days, using tents, shipping containers and barbed-wire fences, without going through the usual approval procedures or environmental assessments. Trump personally inaugurated it in the summer of 2025 and praised the harsh detention conditions in the alligator-filled swamp.

Opponents of the initiative have denounced, among other things, cage-like cells and a lack of hygiene. Detainees have also reported difficulties in gaining access to lawyers, while describing poor sanitary conditions, such as worms in the food, toilets without water, floors covered in feces, as well as the presence of mosquitoes and other insects.

The government has denied the accusations

However, the government has rejected these claims, even though the facility has faced a series of lawsuits. The government-promoted name, “Alligator Alcatraz,” is linked to the notorious maximum-security Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay.

From 1934 to 1963, it was considered the most feared penal institution in the United States. The rocky island, known as “The Rock,” was seen as a place from which there was no escape and was reserved for “the worst of the worst.” /DW