Скачать или смотреть Inside Alligator Alcatraz, Gen Z’s Phone Troubles & Becoming Thurgood | 8-29-2025 | WGCU News

In this episode of Southwest Florida In Focus, we go inside Alligator Alcatraz from the perspective of a 23-year-old former detainee. WGCU host and reporter Sandra Viktorova speaks to Helmuth Beteta, from Nicaragua, about his 25 days at the facility which he describes as “inhumane.” We also explore the future of this state-run facility which is now in question. While Florida leaders continue their legal fight against a court order to shutter the facility by late October, an email exchange between Florida’s head of emergency management and a South Florida rabbi appears to indicate the state is moving to remove all detainees from the facility located in Collier County.

We also speak to Gen Z about why phone calls are anxiety-provoking for so many of their peers. The social anxiety disorder is called telephobia. We hear from FGCU students Hayley Ray, Genevieve Presti and Bailey Srebnick and FGCU employee Jenna Pick about why young people can find chatting on the phone so challenging. Jacqueline Sperling, a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor in psychology at Harvard Medical School talks about ways to overcome this social anxiety.

Film director and producer, Alexis Aggrey gives viewers a sneak peek at the upcoming documentary chronicling the rise of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, from a brilliant young litigator to the first African American justice on the nation’s highest court. Becoming Thurgood – America’s Social Architect airs on WGCU PBS on September 9th. The film explores the civil rights work that made Marshall famous, long before he joined the Supreme Court.

In Focus share the sights and sounds of the new otter grotto and a juvenile alligator vivarium at the Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs.



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