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.”DOJ SUES CONNECTICUT, NEW HAVEN OVER SANCTUARY POLICIES: ‘OPEN DEFIANCE’One detainee was punched in the face after walking up to a guard. The guards then began beating other detainees in the cell.Blankenship said one of her clients was punched in the right eye, thrown to the floor and beaten by several guards. She said guards kicked him in the head and injured his shoulder and arm. A guard also put his knee on the detainee’s neck while restraining him, according to the attorney.Included in the declaration is a photo taken during a video call nearly a week after the beating showing the detainee with a bruised eye.”The officers beat several people during this incident and broke another detained individual’s wrist,” Blankenship wrote, noting that the detainee whose wrist was broken is…
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