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Detainees at the notorious Florida immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” were shackled inside a 2ft-high metal cage and left outside without water for up to a day at a time, a shocking report published on Thursday by Amnesty International alleges.
The human rights group said people held at the state-run Everglades facility, and at Miami’s Krome immigration processing center operated by a private company on behalf of the Trump administration, continued to be exposed to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” rising in some cases to torture.
For instance the cage, known to detainees as “the box”, is used by guards for the arbitrary punishment of trivial or nonexistent offenses, according to the report, which was compiled from interviews with detainees and advocacy groups, and a site visit to Krome made by Amnesty workers in September. “It’s a box outside, exposed to the south Florida sun and humidity, and exposed to mosquitoes,” one detainee said.
A separate July report by Human Rights Watch alleged detainees were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from Styrofoam plates “like dogs”.
Didn’t a judge order the facility to shut down? A federal judge in August ordered it to close after a wave of criticism and a lawsuit by environmental groups. However, by October, the facility was operating again with hundreds of detainees after two Trump-appointed appellate court judges – one whose husband has close ties to the Republican governor Ron DeSantis – blocked the closure ruling.
Has the state of Florida responded to the allegations? The press secretary to DeSantis told the Guardian the allegations were “fabrications” and part of a “politically motivated attack”.
House Democrats release new images of Epstein’s private Caribbean island
House Democrats released photos and videos from Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island on Wednesday, offering a rare glimpse into a secretive place where Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls.
The new images and videos show Epstein’s home, including bedrooms, a telephone, what appears to be an office or library, and a chalkboard on which words including “fin”, “intellectual”, “deception” and “power” are written. Several photos show a room with a dentist’s chair and masks hanging on the wall.
Why have they released these photos now? It’s unclear. Even though the images do not reveal anything new, they keep the pressure on the Trump administration ahead of a 19 December deadline for the justice department to release files, as per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed 19 November.
Israeli strike in Gaza kills five people including two children, says civil defence agency
An Israeli strike on Palestinian territory has killed five people, including two children, Gaza’s civil defence agency told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.
The agency said the strike hit near the Kuwaiti field hospital in Khan Younis and “targeted” a shelter camp. The hospital said the five people killed included two children aged eight and 10, and another 32 people were wounded.
The Israeli military said it had struck a “Hamas terrorist” in southern Gaza in response to a clash with Palestinian militants in the area that left five soldiers wounded.
Also on Wednesday: the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told Reuters there was something “fundamentally wrong” with how Israel conducted its military operation in the Gaza Strip and “strong reasons to believe” war crimes had been committed.
In other news …
Donald Trump said the path ahead for peace in Ukraine was unclear, after US-Russia talks failed to achieve a breakthrough.
A defense department report concluded the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, violated departmental policies when he shared secret information in a Signal messaging chat in March.
The Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has become the first African to be named the most influential figure in the art world, as part of ArtReview magazine’s annual power list. He told the Guardian he felt humbled.
Thailand seized assets worth more than $300m, and issued arrest warrants for 42 people, in a high-profile push against regional scam networks.
The Trump administration paused all immigration applications from 19 non-European countries, citing national security concerns.
Stat of the day: Reuse and return schemes could help eliminate plastic pollution in 15 years
The 66m tons of pollution from plastic packaging that enters the global environment each year could be cut by 97% by 2040 primarily by reuse and return schemes, according to a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, in collaboration with top academics. “We have the ability to transform this,” a Pew project director said.
The Filter recommends: Nine eco-minded gifts that will make a difference
Here is the uncomfortable truth about gift-giving: many fun-to-unwrap baubles get used twice, shoved in a drawer, and eventually hauled off to Goodwill or landfill. But, for the Filter, Christopher Allbritton checked out a range of sustainable-friendly gift ideas that could actually make a small difference – for instance, guided foraging walks that teach people to identify mushrooms, pick wild greens and harvest seasonally.
Don’t miss this: How the dollar-store industry overcharges cash-strapped customers while promising low prices
A Guardian investigation found that the prices listed at Family Dollar and Dollar General often don’t materialize at checkouts across the country – and customers often don’t even notice they’re overpaying. Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022. A Family Dollar in Provo, Utah, flunked 28 inspections in a row – failures that included a 48% overcharge rate in May 2024 and a 12% overcharge rate in October 2025.
Climate check: The environmental costs of corn – can the US change how it grows its dominant crop?
Researchers say there’s a problem with how corn is grown: corn fertilizer is warming the planet and contaminating water. Farmers rely on heavy fertilizer use to sustain high yields. And when the nitrogen in the fertilizer breaks down in the soil, it releases nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Last Thing: Drunk raccoon found passed out in Virginia liquor store
On Saturday, a liquor store employee in Virginia discovered smashed whiskey bottles and an apparently drunk, sleeping and spread-eagled raccoon. The Hanover county animal protection and shelter said the raccoon, after sleeping it off, was later “safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer”.
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