Alligator Alcatraz, the now-closed ICE detention center in Florida, was widely reported on—and widely condemned for its unsafe conditions—before it shut down in June.
But another state-operated detention center in Florida is flying more under the radar: the so-called “Deportation Depot” in northern Florida.
The center’s official name is the Baker County Detention Center. But “Deportation Depot” is what Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken to calling it. It opened around the same time as Alligator Alcatraz.
It’s remote and surrounded by forests, as my colleague Laura C. Morel reported. “As of last month, approximately 1,000 detainees were living there; some are elderly, others are legal DACA recipients, and many have pending asylum claims.”
Laura spoke to eight people—including current detainees, former detainees who were either deported or released, and their loved ones—about conditions inside Deportation Depot:
They all described the same conditions, including detainees who report delays in medical care, and describe living in cramped dormitories lined with 50 bunk beds for 100 men, small portions of food, and stifling heat due to malfunctioning A/C units and broken windows. “We are practically living in our boxers,” one Venezuelan currently at Baker told me over the phone. “The heat is unbearable.”
Read the whole story here.
—Sophie Hurwitz
