The State and federal governments said Monday that they are working to comply with a judge’s order that expanded access to lawyers for people being held at Alligator Alcatraz.

In a federal court hearing, lawyers for the Florida Division of Emergency Management said the state was in the process of purchasing approximately 80 to 100 cell phones for detainees.

The hearing came days after lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and immigration organizations filed notices with the court alleging that guards had physically assaulted and pepper-sprayed detainees after they protested the abrupt cutoff of phone access at the controversial tent detention center.

The civil rights lawyers said the state and federal governments were disregarding a March order by U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell requiring them to provide at least one phone for every 25 detainees. She also ordered that lawyers be allowed to visit their clients at the Everglades facility without a pre-scheduled appointment.

Chappell had also requested the websites of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Florida Division of Emergency Management be updated to include information on legal visits.

The government lawyers disputed the allegations that they disregarded the judge’s order and argued that Friday’s notice alleging non-compliance could have been resolved without going to court.

“We are continuing to operate and comply with exactly what we testified during the hearing,” Nicholas Meros, a lawyer for the FDEM, said.

Meros said the notice of non-compliance filed by the civil rights groups included multiple issues unrelated to the ongoing case.

Chappell also scolded the government lawyers for submitting evidence at the last minute ahead of Monday’s hearing showing that ICE and FDEM websites have now been updated to include information on the facility’s legal visit protocol.

“The preliminary injunction has been in place since March 27 over two weeks ago, I think, 17 days, to be exact, and not until today, barely an hour before this hearing, did the court become aware of additions to the defendants’ websites,” Chappell said.

Chappell said the information still was not easily accessible and that the name being used for the site — South Florida Detention Center — is not consistent with how the lawyers have referenced it in court filings.

Monday’s hearing was part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by detainees at the facility who allege that Florida’s Department of Emergency Management and the Department of Homeland Security are violating the detainees’ First Amendment right to legal counsel.

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