Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura, arrested last week in Miami-Dade on assault charges, was transferred to South Florida’s new immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades, the singer confirmed in a phone call.
He and other detainees claim they are enduring inhumane conditions at the site, including lack of access to water, inadequate food and denial of religious rights.
Alligator Alcatraz was built in a matter of days on a rarely used municipal airport located about 50 miles west of the City of Miami. The first group of detainees arrived at the center on July 3, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier.
La Figura, whose real name is Leamsy Isquierdo, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery. He was initially held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK) before being transferred to Alligator Alcatraz.
“There’s no water to take a bath”
In a phone call from inside the facility, La Figura described what he called horrific conditions.
“I am Leamsy La Figura. We’ve been here at Alcatraz since Friday. There’s over 400 people here. There’s no water to take a bath, it’s been four days since I’ve taken a bath,” he said.
He claimed the food at the immigration facility is scarce and unsanitary.
“They only brought a meal once a day and it had maggots. They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants,” La Figura said.
Detainees say rights are being violated
Other detainees echoed La Figura’s concerns, alleging violations of their basic rights.
“They’re not respecting our human rights,” one man said during the same call. “We’re human beings; we’re not dogs. We’re like rats in an experiment.”
“I don’t know their motive for doing this, if it’s a form of torture. A lot of us have our residency documents and we don’t understand why we’re here,” he added.
A third detainee, who said he is Colombian, described deteriorating mental health and lack of access to necessary medical care.
“I’m on the edge of losing my mind. I’ve gone three days without taking my medicine,” he said. “It’s impossible to sleep with this white light that’s on all day.”
He also claimed his Bible was confiscated.
“They took the Bible I had and they said here there is no right to religion. And my Bible is the one thing that keeps my faith, and now I’m losing my faith,” he said.
La Figura’s girlfriend said the couple shares a 4-year-old daughter.
Florida officials respond to inhumane conditions allegations
On Tuesday, state officials responded to the allegations made by detainees at the facility, saying they are “completely false.”
“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
FDEM was the engine behind Alligator Alcatraz, using the state’s emergency management tools and funding to build, staff and operate the detention facility.
The detention has faced intense criticism over human rights, environmental impact, oversight and the legality of commandeering protected Everglades land.
Florida officials deny accusations of inhumane conditions at Alligator Alcatraz
Scottie's Playtime 
Of course it was built on protected land.
For a facility that was slapped together in a matter of days – and in that amount of time, slapping together is the best you could expect – it would be surprising if the electrical and plumbing facilities WERE acceptable.
On another note, this is becoming a pet peeve of mine –
I would think this should read “legal name” or, if he changed it through the process required, then <s>”original name” or </s>just don’t even mention that he used to use a different name since that name would now be moot.
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Hi MDavis. I am not sure why the rapper changed his name or if he just has a stage name like a lot of performing people. On the topic of name change when Ron and I got married we talked about it and I took his last name. You would be surprised I think on the amount of people who question that or ask why. Then their next question is usually do you feel you are the woman in the relationship? Are you the girl? I have even been asked that by people who know or understand my childhood history? I wanted to change that last name for a long time, I felt it was marking me as property of my abusers for a very long time. I felt I was branded by people that bought me to abuse. I was so happy to change it and for Ron to accept my reasons and be happy with me doing so. But it has led to some issues. I still have an unresolved insurance issue I am fighting. I bought it before I met Ron and they are resisting the changing of the name. I wonder at women who get married change anything. Social security for me required a request, delay, acceptance where they got it wrong, legal assistance to make my birth certificate first and middle name, my driver’s license, and my new last name all match. We finally got it done … except for the insurance matter. As that is $50,000. I have to get on it. But every step including the voting here in Florida required in person visit, documents of birth with original name which states charge for certified copies for, copies of the marriage license with one place demanding to see the county clerk’s official recording of it (yes I realized that was pure bigotry making me jump through extra hoops and hoping I would fail). I thought the driver’s license would be the worst but the person really only glanced at the documents and moved on to getting the fee. I shutter to think what people who devorce go through if the other half of the spouce won’t be coopertive. Hugs
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Ah, stage name vs. real name, now that makes sense. And if he did do a legal name change, I forgot about showing the paper trail starting with your birth certificate.
I am not surprised a bit that you went for changing your name, not after what you’ve told us. I’m also not surprised at the hassles you’ve gotten over the paperwork, although it is still probably misogynistic given that most marriage name-changes in hetero marriage are probably the woman changing her name. It’s tradition.
And I have a friend who has been having trouble getting her ID situation straightened out over divorce papers now being required to prove what her current name is for some reason. She moved a few hundred miles and the other state’s office requires an in person visit to get those docs out of the “we filed this before computers” basement. Have to factor in extra time for that stuff.
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