The United States of America used to be a nation of laws, or am I naïve?

I did not plan to blog today, but something came to my attention that I can’t let slide.

Amnesty International has issued a 48-page report. I thought it was going to be a report on the organization’s findings throughout the world but, no, it is a report on detention facilities in the State of Florida. 48 well-documented pages.

The name of the report is “Torture and enforced disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human rights violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida AMR 51/0511/2025” and can be found at https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2025/12/AMR_51_0511_2025-Torture-and-enforced-disappearances-in-the-Sunshine-State-vf.pdf?….

The U.S. Detention Center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” due to its location in the Everglades and the manner in which it was publicized by the Trump Administration and the early reports that came out of there, has completely fallen off the radars of news organizations. With Border Patrol and ICE activities in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Minneapolis-St. Paul dominating the news cycles along with the Epstein Files and whether the United States is going to bomb Venezuela and force a regime change in that country… “Alligator Alcatraz” cannot compete for attention.

Thank goodness it hasn’t fallen off Amnesty International’s radar. The organization’s report this week paints a horrible picture of conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz.”

I know there are Americans who glibly turn a blind eye to any reports that put the Trump Administration in a bad light. They seem to think it’s acceptable for the U.S. to bomb boats in international waters and launch multiple attacks to kill any survivors. They also tend to agree with Trump that anyone who ends up in a detention center is sub-human and deserves horrible treatment. Many of these people also claim to be Christians. This baffles me, but that isn’t the purpose of today’s blog post.

(And why is Trump’s good buddy, Steve Witkoff, giving Putin advice on how to negotiate with Trump? But I digress.)

I cannot easily summarize the report in this blog post, but here are a few highlights:

Lights are on around-the-clock;

Although the United Nations considers solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days to be torture, but at “Alligator Alcatraz,” some detainees have been in solitary confinement for more than 100 consecutive days;

Inadequate/ill-maintained plumbing results in toilets overflowing and flooding cells;

Detainees are allowed one five-minute shower per week;

Mold, insects, and rodents abound;

Food is often spoiled or maggot-infested;

Medical and mental health care are often withheld;

At least four detainees have died due to medical neglect;

Detainees are effectively dropped from the immigration court system because ICE and GEO Group refuse to report them to other government authorities;

Guards have used pepper spray in closed cells and then denied decontamination;

Sexual assault is occurring;

Detainees are punished if they complain about conditions;

Force-feeding has been used without proper medical oversight

There are 1,400 detainees being held there now at a facility built for 700;

ICE renewed GEO Group’s contract to operate the facility inspite of all the evidence that the company is not maintaining current standards of incarceration in the United States; and

The Department of Human Services Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has not inspected “Alligator Alcatraz” since July 2025.

My thoughts

Call me a “bleeding heart liberal” if you wish, but I would ask you if this is now the acceptable penal standard in the United States of America? Do we aspire to be a “Third World” country?

Is anything on the above list making “America Great Again” or did I misunderstand Trump’s campaign promise?

If you are all right with our country treating detainees horribly, then you and I have fundamental differences in how we interpret the teachings of Jesus Christ as well as the letter and spirit of the United States Constitution.

The sobering lines of Martin Niemoller’s much-quoted “First they came” statement/poem come to mind.

They haven’t come for me yet, but I feel compelled to speak up for the least of these among us and alleged atrocities committed by the United States Government or its private contractors such as GEO Group.

I love my country. That is why it hurts so much when we fall short of our potential and our history.

Janet