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 (37)

Female detainee alleged she was abused while in US custody. The investigation stated that there was insufficient evidence to prove the offenses of aggravated assault and cruelty and maltreatment. Detainee alleges she was forced to stand ...

Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Walling, General, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Detainee alleged that he was abused while in custody of U.S. forces. The detainee claims he was beaten, sexually assaulted and had his property stolen. Once released, detainee filed a complaint and told his story on Hardball with Chris Matthews. ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Nudity, Sexual, Other Humiliation
Detainee alleges that after being taken in to custody on June 21, 2004 he was placed in a small cell beaten by soldiers while his hands were, handcuffed behind his back, not glowed to use the restroom, forced to urinate and forced to defecate on ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, General, Cramped confinement, Dietary manipulation, Other Humiliation
Criminal Investigation Command (CID) report into allegations of assault, cruelty and maltreatment of a detainee by guards at Abu Ghraib. Among the detainee's allegations, he stated that a US Army Sergeant hung him by his arms from the bars of a ...
This Army Developmental Counseling Form was issued to a soldier that supposedly had an interaction with a detainee at Camp Bucca, Iraq wherein the detainee was not following the soldiers instructions and the soldier said in response " These guys ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Religious, Other Humiliation
Informal investigation into the shooting death of Iraqi national detainee, Obeed Hethere Radad. The shooting officer, a Specialist (SPC), stated that he shot Radad because he was under the belief that a handcuffed Radad was trying to escape. ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Raymond T. Odierno
Obeed Hethere Radad
Physical assault, General, Isolation, Other Humiliation, Other
Results of a AR 15-6 investigation of photographs taken of John Walker Lindh by 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Describes photos taken of Lindh as "sophomoric". The Dep. Commander recommends counseling sessions, staff training and inclusion ...
July 15, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
David P. Burford
John Walker Lindh
Other Humiliation
This Army Memo for the Record describes results of investigation in to the allegations that there were photos taken of John Walker Lindh, an American captured while fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, while he was bound, blindfold and with a ...
July 15, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
David P. Burford
John Walker Lindh
Other Humiliation
Investigation of photographs taken of a hooded and flexcuffed detainee in a stress position with a U.S. soldier simulating sodomy on him with a broomstick. Investigation shows that the detainees were not put into the stress positions for reasons ...
May 16, 2005
Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Physical assault, Sexual, Stress positions, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Fax of a sworn statement which describes soldiers having photographs of naked female prisoners and being instructed by superiors to delete all such photographs from their computers in case of investigation. related to CID investigation. ACLU RDI 64.
May 16, 2005
Investigative File (CID), Interview (Statement)
Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual