Senators Probe ‘The Box’ — Hell in Sunlight

Empty prison corridor with barred cells on either side — SENATORS PROBE THE BOX

Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, drew federal court orders, torture allegations, and a Senate investigation — and it lasted less than a year.

Story Snapshot

Governor Ron DeSantis opened the Everglades detention facility in July 2025 and declared it a success when it closed in 2026 — but courts, Amnesty International, and multiple senators told a very different story.
The facility was the first state-owned immigration jail in U.S. history, with no federal oversight and no connection to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tracking systems.
Amnesty International documented what it called torture, including a 2×2-foot punishment cage where detainees were shackled outdoors for hours without food or water.
Florida issued 34 no-bid contracts totaling more than $360 million for the facility in just three months, with annual operating costs projected at $450 million.
Federal courts ordered legal access for detainees, halted expansion, and ultimately required the facility to be dismantled — all before DeSantis declared “mission accomplished.”

Built in Eight Days, Shut Down in Less Than a Year

Workers threw up the Everglades Detention Facility — quickly nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” — in just eight days in July 2025. Florida built it on land near the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, deep in the Everglades.

The location was remote by design. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, whose members live just miles downstream, opposed the project from the start. Environmental groups filed lawsuits almost immediately, arguing Florida never completed the required environmental review before breaking ground.

“Alligator Alcatraz,” the Florida immigration detention center, has shut down nearly a year after opening, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday. MORE: https://t.co/MgyVA9EAig pic.twitter.com/7BFQ1AMUfh

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) June 25, 2026

Governor DeSantis declared the facility closed in 2026, saying it “fulfilled the role that it was designed to serve” and helped remove “many dangerous people” from Florida and the United States. ^[5] That framing is worth examining against the facts. Courts repeatedly intervened.

A Senate investigation launched. And the bill to Florida taxpayers climbed toward half a billion dollars annually — for a facility that held roughly 1,400 people at its peak. ^[1] That math is hard to defend on its merits alone.

Courts Stepped In Before Politicians Would

On August 21, 2025, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction stopping all new detainee transfers and ordering the facility’s temporary infrastructure dismantled within 60 days. ^[2] Florida appealed, and the 11th Circuit Court blocked the closure order while the appeal worked through the system.

A separate federal court later ordered ICE to provide detainees with access to legal counsel — because testimony from formerly detained people confirmed they had been denied attorneys, paper, and even pencils. ^[13]

What Happened Inside the Fence

Amnesty International released a detailed report documenting conditions at the facility. Researchers found overflowing toilets with waste seeping into sleeping areas, lights left on 24 hours a day, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protection, and poor-quality food and water. ^[8]

The most alarming finding involved a punishment structure called “the box” — a 2×2-foot cage where detainees were shackled at the wrists and ankles, chained to the ground in direct Florida sun, sometimes for hours, without food or water. Amnesty concluded that the use of the box amounts to torture under international law.

U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Dick Durbin launched a formal investigation into the box after media reports described temperatures reaching 90 degrees and swarms of large mosquitoes during confinement. ^[10]

They wrote to the Department of Homeland Security stating the alleged conditions “appear to violate DHS detention standards and the United Nations Convention Against Torture.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a separate suit, arguing that no state has the legal authority to operate its own immigration jail outside federal law. ^[6]

DeSantis called the abuse reports fabricated and politically motivated. Given the volume of court findings, independent documentation, and bipartisan alarm, that denial strains credibility.

The Money Problem Nobody Wants to Answer

Between June and August 2025 alone, Florida issued 34 no-bid contracts totaling more than $360 million for the facility, with annual operating costs projected at $450 million. ^[7]

That spending happened while the state cut funding for health care, food security, emergency response, and housing programs. The facility was also the first state-run immigration jail in American history, meaning it operated entirely outside ICE’s databases. ^[8] Families had no reliable way to locate loved ones held there. Amnesty called that a form of enforced disappearance.

DeSantis framed the closure as a win. The detainees, he noted, remain in federal custody. That part is true. But the broader question — whether Florida got anything close to $450 million in value from a facility that courts repeatedly found violated basic legal rights — remains wide open.

The facility is gone. The legal battles, the bills, and the documented record of what happened inside are not.