State contracts for Florida's controversial "Alligator Alcatraz" detention camp were removed from a public database and replaced with far less detailed documents after media outlets began writing about them last week.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), which is overseeing the state's new immigrant detention camp in the Everglades, says the contracts contained "proprietary information."
However, open government advocates and state Democratic lawmakers say that removing details of the contracts flies in the face of Florida's promises to provide transparency in public spending, especially given the massive expenditures of taxpayer money involved. The most recent reporting on the ballooning costs of the Everglades detention camp puts it at $250 million and growing.
