Detainees at a US immigration detention centre nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” have been on hunger strike for 10 days – protesting against what they say are inhumane and dangerous living conditions.
One detainee in the centre in Florida, Pedro Hernandez, has been hospitalised but continues to refuse food.
He pleaded for help in a recorded message from inside the facility, Sky News’s US partner NBC News reported.
He said: “We’ve all been hungry since Tuesday. I’m not going to eat another plate of food until they show us respect.”
His wife, Daimarys, told NBC News she is terrified for his health and fears he could die in custody, or be deported back to Cuba on his own.
“My husband was in prison. We make mistakes, but we learn from them and fix things,” she said.
Mr Hernandez travelled to the US from Cuba in 2006.
He was detained in July during a routine check-in with ICE in the city of Miramar.
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Hundreds of detainees are being kept at the facility, which has the capacity to hold 3,000 people.
It was constructed in eight days, with experts suggesting the design is flawed and will compromise the safety of people being held there.
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Detainee Rafael Collado compared it to a “dog cage”, adding: “The lights are on 24/7, so they don’t even know if it’s day or night.”
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Critics have condemned the facility as cruel and inhumane, while Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
