EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Alligator Alcatraz ICE Prisoner Reveals Beatings & Groping of Prisoners

"They're going to kill us here," prisoner tells girlfriend about guards violently assaulting prisoners. "They touch us all: our groins, our asses...they treat us like beasts."

Status Coup recently reported ON-THE-GROUND outside the Alligator Alcatraz ICE prison and would like to return to continue investigating and spotlight ongoing protests against it. Support our investigative reporting as a Status Coup member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

Status Coup has exclusively obtained audio from a prisoner at the controversial so-called Alligator Alcatraz ICE prison in which the prisoner, a Cuban national, frantically recounts to his girlfriend several instances in which prisoners have been assaulted, and groped, by guards—and starkly warned that conditions are so bad that prisoners will be killed.

During the phone call, the prisoner, who said he has been imprisoned at Alligator Alcatraz for over 30 days, also described guards delaying medical treatment to a prisoner who had fainted.

[Status Coup secured a human translator to translate the over seven-minute call, which was originally conducted in Spanish, to English. An English narration of the call, and the original Spanish version between the prisoner and his girlfriend, are at the bottom of the story. We’ve also added a written transcript.]

The prisoner reported two separate incidents in which a swarm of guards violently assaulted prisoners. In one instance occurring in the dining room, the prisoner claimed that a fellow prisoner—who was handcuffed— was jumped by six guards who then struck other prisoners.

“There was so much abuse—handcuffed, they stepped on his head, about six guards jumped on him, they hit us, they kicked us, so much abuse, too much abuse, so much abuse that we’re enduring here in Alligator…I can’t take it anymore. Where are the Human Resources? It’s unbearable here.”

He also described a fight that broke out in which seven to eight guards jumped, and dragged, three prisoners.

They had this boy pinned to the floor, and we were all against the wall, all of us. We were all handcuffed and couldn’t do anything because there are like 200 of them, understand? And we’re talking about 18-20 people, and they still abused them—those 3 guys were handcuffed, like 7 or 8 people jumped on them, stepped on their heads with their feet, rolled them on the floor, dragged them, that’s what happened to these 3 guys, they abused these 3 guys.

In a separate incident, described by the Cuban prisoner, he revealed that a fellow prisoner had fainted—yet was left sprawled out on the floor as guards delayed their response.

“I think they lost consciousness…they [guards] don’t even know how to act because they don't know how to revive anyone,” he said referring to the guards’ delayed response. “They don’t know if the person died or not, we’re very nervous because we don’t know where we are.”

[Although Status Coup believes to know the identity of the prisoner who fainted, we have not yet been able to confirm it—nor what their medical condition was and their current status. When we reached out to the Florida Division of Emergency Management [FDEM], who is in charge of Alligator Alcatraz, a spokesperson repeatedly declined to answer questions about the specific prisoner we asked about—including whether he was transported to the hospital and what his current condition is. After following up, the FDEM spokesperson directed Status Coup to ICE, who has not responded to our request for comment or questions. We’ll continue pursuing this.]

As Status Coup recently reported on-the-ground outside Alligator Alcatraz (video below), a younger protester who recently attended an anti-Alligator Alcatraz press conference outside the prison fainted on a day where the heat index brought the temperature over 100 degrees.

The protester’s medical episode is on top of recent reports of prisoners inside Alligator Alcatraz being punished by being left outside for hours—in sweltering heat—in a small area known as the “box.”

On the phone call with his girlfriend, the Cuban prisoner described guards as inexperienced, racist, and power hungry. Alarmingly, he also described sexual aggression by the guards, who he alleged routinely groped prisoners in an attempt to confiscate food.

They touch us all—our groins, our asses to see if we’ve brought cookies, a little piece of fries, and they take it, they search us, they touch us a lot, they search and touch our whole bodies in a weird way, we feel violated, I feel violated.

In a particularly jarring moment, the prisoner said guards “treat us like beasts—but they are the beasts!” He added: “We have no rights here to anything, no humanitarian resources, nothing…they treat us badly and inhumanely, we don’t feel well.”

The Cuban national told his girlfriend that the guards view them as criminals—despite the fact that, as the Miami Herald reported, the majority imprisoned in Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal charges against them. “And even if we were, we were and we’ve paid for it,” the prisoner said, adding, “here, there are many who have no record, have never been prisoners, and they treat us like shit.”

He also challenged the term the Trump administration, and media, have used to describe inmates, emphasizing that they are not merely being detained, but instead are prisoners who are being abused in “every way” and torn up “to pieces.”

When the prisoner’s girlfriend asked him if he wanted her to get this information out to a journalist, his response was dire, warning that prisoners are going to die from the abuse and horrific conditions they’re enduring.

“Give it to them because this has to come out one way or another because they’re going to kill us here little by little, no one pays attention to us. I’ve been here for 30 days seeing injustice and mistreatment, it doesn’t stop. They abuse us in every way—with the food, in the bathroom, everything, everything. We have no rights here to anything, no humanitarian resources, nothing. We have no rights to anything, they treat us badly and inhumanely, we don’t feel well. This is too much, and with the Cubans, it’s even worse. With us Cubans, it’s even worse.”

A spokesperson for Florida Division of Emergency Management [FDEM] denied the prisoner’s claims made to his girlfriend, telling Status Coup they are false and that reports on horrific conditions at Alligator Alcatraz have been “repeatedly debunked” (for the record, none of the ample reporting about inhumane and unsafe conditions inside Alligator Alcatraz have been debunked).

On top of a large swath of reporting confirming the inhumane conditions and treatments, a former guard at Alligator Alcatraz came out on Tuesday, blowing the whistle on what she called “inhumane” and “miserable” conditions for prisoners.

“It’s inhumane the way that they’re keeping their residents,” she told NBC, adding that “we had to use the porta-johns. We didn’t have hot water half the time. Our bathrooms were backed up.”

Referring to the cells and cages prisoners are being held, she referred to it as “an oversized dog kennel.”

FDEM’s full response to Status Coup for this story:

These false claims have been repeatedly debunked. No guards are mistreating detainees. Officers are highly trained and follow all federal and state detention protocols.The facility is fully operational and meets all federal standards. Detainees have uninterrupted access to drinking water, showers, and clean, sanitary conditions—any suggestion otherwise is deliberately misleading.

Listen to the English Translation of the Call Between Alligator Alcatraz Prisoner and His Girlfriend

Original Call Between Alligator Alcatraz Prisoner and Girlfriend in Spanish

Transcript of the Call

Prisoner: "So much abuse, so much abuse, too much abuse. Yesterday in the dining hall, there was so much abuse—they were handcuffed, they stepped on his head, about six guards jumped on him, they hit us, they kicked us, so much abuse, too much abuse, so much abuse that we’re enduring here in Alligator. Too much abuse. So much abuse here, I can’t take it anymore. Where are the Human Resources? It’s unbearable here. Now in another area, they fell to the floor, I think they fainted, I don’t know, they don’t even know how to act because they don’t know how to revive someone. They don’t know if the person died or not, we’re very nervous because we don’t know where we are.

Girlfriend: My love, do you want me to give this to the journalist?

Prisoner: Give it to them because this has to come out one way or another because they’re going to kill us here little by little, no one pays attention to us. I’ve been here for 30 days seeing injustice and mistreatment, it doesn’t stop. Look, listen, listen! [loud noises from people inside] This is turning into chaos here because they have no control, they don’t know how to work with prisoners or detainees, and supposedly we’re detainees, not even prisoners. They abuse us in every way—with the food, in the bathroom, everything, everything. We have no rights here to anything, no humanitarian resources, nothing. We have no rights to anything, they treat us badly and inhumanely, we don’t feel well. This is too much, and with the Cubans, it’s even worse. With us Cubans, it’s even worse.

Girlfriend: Oh, my love, I’m going to put this on the news.

Prisoner: I don’t know, my love, this is really bad. Send a kiss to my mother, tell her everything is fine with me, but here—listen—this is really bad, my love. They’re mistreating human beings here. There’s mistreatment of humans, understand? Mistreatment, abuse of power, racism. All of this is happening here. This is the harshest thing happening here. They’re treating us like we’re the worst in the world, and we’re not—it’s them, the security guards, the DOC, they’re all here abusing the power they have, they’re all abusing their power, they’re abusing us, they have us pinned to the floor, they’re tearing us apart, they treat us like beasts, but they are the beasts!

We are free men, and they took our freedom because of a man who took us under this country’s law. For nothing! Because Fidel separated us from our family, and we’ve already paid for a past cause. What they’re doing to us is an injustice. To be mistreated by other men—and there are many gay men here. The women are men, and the men are women. We have to shower with them because they’re gay [referring to sexual aggression at the hands of prison guards]. This is really bad, inside here, this is really bad. I don’t understand what’s happening, this is really bad.

Do what you have to do because this is really bad here. It’s unbearable. Do what you can. Tell my mom I’m fine, that she should stay calm. This is really bad here.

Here, we’re all human beings, but cornered because they’re out there threatening us with force, shouting. They’re driving us crazy, we don’t know what’s going on, we don’t know what’s going to happen. This morning there was a fight. And they came in [the guards], swa! They’re mistreating us so much, so much! They’re mistreating us. With the food, now with us too. I witnessed it physically here.

Let them check the cameras, let someone important come in here to see the mistreatment and abuse. They had this boy pinned to the floor, and we were all against the wall, all of us. We were all handcuffed and couldn’t do anything because there are like 200 of them, understand? And we’re talking about 18-20 people, and they still abused them—those 3 guys were handcuffed, like 7 or 8 people jumped on them, stepped on their heads with their feet, rolled them on the floor, dragged them, that’s what happened to these 3 guys, they abused these 3 guys.

Girlfriend: Oh my God…

Prisoner: Then control got involved, security, the security they put here. They’re some kind of jackasses, they’re not normal people, they see us as criminals, and we’re not. We’re not. And even if we were, we were and we’ve paid for it. Here, there are many that have no record, have never been prisoners, and they treat us like shit. They touch us all—our groins, our asses to see if we’ve brought cookies, a little piece of fries, and they take it, they search us, they touch us a lot, they search and touch our whole bodies in a weird way, we feel violated, I feel violated.

Girlfriend: Oh my God…

Prisoner: And it’s men who are searching us, touching us, men—this is really ugly, my love. Put this wherever you want. As a man, I’m not trying to solve or endure this, but there comes a point where you can’t take it anymore. Because they’re violating all our rights. I have no rights here! It’s total abuse, it’s abuse. Okay.

Girlfriend: Do you have access to a phone?

Prisoner: I don’t know, my love, they cut them off, these people are very smart, for sure they cut the phones, for sure they’ll contact with people outside so no one does anything, understand? There are cameras here, they hit us in the chest, they hit us while looking at the cameras, watching from above. So, my love, stay calm. I’m fine, I’m alive.

Stay calm, love, I hope God controls all this. Stay calm, my love. Well, goodnight. Put this wherever you want, put it out there so the world knows there’s a lot of mistreatment in Alligator. There’s a lot of human mistreatment. There’s no stability here.

There’s a lot of racism, too much racism. And on top of that, they’re gay—the same females, males are gay, and they treat us men badly. The real men are locked up here, and we’re being mistreated by security, people who have no control over anything, we don’t even know anything, they don’t know anything, and they’re taking us by force, no yes or no, this is wrong, and it’s because supposedly we’re detained—we’re not being detained, we’re prisoners, and they’re taking it to the extreme—mistreated, this is abuse that they have against us, complete abuse. Ok my love, take care.

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