Guards at 'Alligator Alcatraz' beat, pepper-sprayed detainees, lawyer says

Guards severely beat and pepper-sprayed migrant detainees at "Alligator Alcatraz," an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, causing injuries to their heads, shoulders and wrists, according to a lawyer for two detainees.

The guards targeted several detainees at the state-run facility after they complained about a lack of phone access one day earlier this month, lawyer Katherine Blankenship said in a court declaration.

The phones are the primary method for detainees to communicate with family and their legal representation while held at the detention center, but the phones were not functioning.

The guards first started to taunt the detainees as they were in a cell. Blankenship said the guards then became "more aggressive and were yelling and threatening to enter the cage."

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One detainee was punched in the face after walking up to a guard. The guards then began beating other detainees in the c...