After September 11, 2001, U.S. officials authorized the cruel treatment and torture of prisoners held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and the CIA's secret prisons overseas.

This database documents the U.S. government's official experiment with torture. At present, the database contains well over 100,000 pages of government documents obtained primarily through Freedom of Information Act litigation and requests filed by the ACLU, and through litigation of Salim v. Mitchell, a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the survivors and the family of a dead victim of the CIA torture program. To learn more about the database, please read the About and Search Help pages. If you're a developer, you can also access this data through our API.

Search Result (6709)

A soldier took a bottle that a detainee had urinated in and threatened to force the detainee to drink the urine. The detainee was not assaulted or forced to consume the urine. Punishment for the soldier included psychiatric counseling; clean all ...
Apr. 18, 2005
Investigative File
Threat, Assault/death
Email includes the Commanding General's guidance regarding probable cause review of detainees.
Dec. 21, 2005
Email
Carter F. Ham
Email requests information on detainees detained beyond the "14-day rule."
This heavily redacted investigative file by the FBI transcribes an interview with an FBI Special Agent. The interview's nature seems to be to obtain additional facts surrounding allegations made against a fellow FBI Special Agent, who may or may ...
Emails discuss a parole program for Iraqi detainees in order to deal with the problem of lengthy detentions. LTC [Redacted] states in the email, "[w]e hold detainees so long that there is no hope of getting actionable intelligence."
Emails discuss the need to decrease the investigation period and improve the investigation process. One author states " ...our process is drawn out and inefficient."
Emails discuss the need to decrease the investigation period and improve the investigation process. One author states " ...our process is drawn out and inefficient."
Emails discuss the processing of detainees, there are concerns raised regarding a new detainee parole concept.
The email provides and update on the team's re-orientation upon arriving back in Iraq. It states the team briefed MPs on how important the MP's were, and preparations for a visit from the International Red Cross/Crescent.
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
M. Chris Briese
Frankie Battle
M. Chris Briese, Frankie Battle
This State department cable concerns a meeting between Amb. Pierre-Richard Prosper and Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee for the Red Cross. The discussion focused on detention issues regarding Guantanamo, Iraq, and ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Pierre-Richard Prosper, Edward R. Cummings