David Jolly calls for investigation into Florida’s ‘Deportation Depot’

Politics admin September 20, 2026 0 Comments

David Jolly calls for investigation into Florida’s ‘Deportation Depot’

David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor, is calling for an investigation into the state-run immigration detention facility in north Florida known as Deportation Depot after a federal watchdog report found that the DeSantis administration failed to ensure humane standards at the now-shuttered Everglades detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.

A Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report found that the Everglades detention center, whose operations were overseen by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, violated numerous state and federal standards. The federal watchdog found that detainees were sometimes confined in small metal cages and lacked adequate living space and access to water.

The findings raised alarms about the still-operating Baker Correctional Institution, which the DeSantis administration colloquially dubbed “Deportation Depot” to mirror the pithy name of the Everglades facility.

In its report, the federal watchdog said Deportation Depot “has not been internally inspected by ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight nor was it scheduled for inspection in FY 2026 or FY 2027.”

“ICE’s own documentation lists contractually obligated standards for Baker as ‘N/A’,” the report stated.

Jolly told reporters Saturday at a Democratic Party gala in downtown Miami that “the reality is, the same conditions likely exist” at Deportation Depot.

“If there is nothing to worry about, then let’s open up the Baker County facility, allow the [Inspector General] to go in and investigate that as well,” he said.

He called on U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, his Republican opponent from Naples, to join in demanding an investigation into the facility, which housed about 1,028 detainees as of Aug. 27, according to the report.

The DeSantis administration announced the facility last fall, turning the Baker County Correctional Institution in Sanderson — which had prison infrastructure, unlike the tents at Alligator Alcatraz — into another state-run detention facility. The facility has received less public attention, but detainees who have been held there have shared similar complaints about harsh conditions and inadequate medical care.

Detainees at the detention center have complained about being pepper-sprayed on at least two occasions, the Associated Press reported in January.

The DeSantis administration has committed more than $1.4 billion in no-bid contracts with private contractors to help carry out Donald Trump’s mass deportation mandate and crackdown on immigrant communities. Some $230 million of that commitment is to operate Deportation Depot, according to a review of contract records by the Herald/Times.