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BumRushDaShow

(168,823 posts)
Fri Mar 13, 2026, 08:10 AM 18 hrs ago

Guards at Alligator Alcatraz are now wearing Grim Reaper patches: report

Source: The Independent

Thursday 12 March 2026 20:58 EDT


Guards inside Florida’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention facility are reportedly wearing patches featuring the Grim Reaper and the words “You can’t hide.”

A former guard at the facility, which sits on an old airstrip in a remote patch of the Everglades, reportedly made the patches and distributed them to other staff members.

“What I saw was ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ a skeleton dressed in black holding a hatchet and a crocodile underneath,” former detainee Lewis Ortigoza told the Miami Herald of the patch. “It looked like something demonic.” “I always felt haunted by it, but I never said anything because I was so afraid,” he added.

The patch first came to light when a guard, who had been discharged from Critical Response Strategies, a government contracting firm that provides staffing at Alligator Alcatraz, reportedly handed it to a protester outside the facility earlier this month.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/alligator-alcatraz-florida-grim-reaper-patch-b2937653.html





Also from the Miami Herald - Why are Alligator Alcatraz guards wearing a Grim Reaper patch?

Includes a report by one of the activists from the group "Witness at the Border" protesting outside of the facility area, who actually got one of the patches from the officer who had been discharged as he was driving off, and handed it to her -

(snip)

Prokopas said she was standing outside the facility on March 3 holding a cardboard sign that read “SHAME” when Martinez stopped his truck near the entrance gate while waiting for a break in traffic to pull onto U.S. 41.

The two began speaking through the open window of his vehicle. During the exchange, Martinez told her he had just been fired after fighting with another officer. He had fresh gashes on his face.

Prokopas said Martinez was wearing the patch on his uniform. She said he then removed it from his shoulder and handed it to her. An upset Martinez told Prokopas that he previously worked for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office in Texas.

He said he had just been discharged from Critical Response Strategies, the private contractor that provides security at the detention center, after a physical altercation with another guard.

(snip)
14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Guards at Alligator Alcatraz are now wearing Grim Reaper patches: report (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 18 hrs ago OP
So far snowybirdie 18 hrs ago #1
not suprised catsudon 18 hrs ago #2
I thought this prison was closed by court order? Did it reopen? Multichromatic 18 hrs ago #3
The 11th Circuit put a stay on the lower court closure order back in September 2025 BumRushDaShow 17 hrs ago #7
Of course they did Multichromatic 17 hrs ago #8
They have actually had a better track record than the 5th Circuit BumRushDaShow 17 hrs ago #9
They consider themselves Bad Ass like Hells Angels. no_hypocrisy 17 hrs ago #4
Isn't that what kacekwl 17 hrs ago #5
Damn, that is chilling PatSeg 17 hrs ago #6
It looked better in the original German. Ray Bruns 17 hrs ago #10
This is needs to be shown everywhere. efhmc 16 hrs ago #11
Because... 2naSalit 13 hrs ago #12
How long before we learn they have "ovens" hurple 13 hrs ago #13
This is all just a big Quanto Magnus 11 hrs ago #14

snowybirdie

(6,663 posts)
1. So far
Fri Mar 13, 2026, 08:23 AM
18 hrs ago

Federal government promises to reimburse the state of Florida haven't been honored. Florida taxpayers are on the hook for the cost of this abomination. We're getting stiffed, like all Trump promises to pay.

BumRushDaShow

(168,823 posts)
9. They have actually had a better track record than the 5th Circuit
Fri Mar 13, 2026, 09:24 AM
17 hrs ago

but still lean right.

For the "active" judges, it is 7 (R) - 5 (D).
For the "senior" judges, it is 5 (R) - 5 (D).

hurple

(1,356 posts)
13. How long before we learn they have "ovens"
Fri Mar 13, 2026, 12:54 PM
13 hrs ago

I guarantee this is not Aligator Alcatraz but Alligator Auschwitz. We just don't know about it yet.

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