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 (43)

Sworn statement by an individual who was present at an interrogation. Refers to a detainee who alleged that he had been abused, "stripped, had a bag placed over his head, and was burned on the foot with a cigarette and hit on the side of his ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Sworn statement by a detainee who claimed to have served in the Iraqi Army as a technician. Detainee states that he was handcuffed and had a bag put over his head. He was held "for 17 days" with a bag over his head, "handcuffed to the floor." ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Dietary manipulation

Sworn statement of female Iraqi detainee whose siblings were also held at Adhamiya. States, "I have two sisters and five brothers. One brother died at [redacted]." Detainee was interrogated at Adhamiya palace for four or five days ...

June 30, 2006
Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, Threat, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Marine Corps inquiry in to possible abuse of a detainee on April 13, 2004 at the Al Mahmudiya Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Iraq. Members of the guard force at the Detention Facility were accused of shocking a detainee using a power cord by ...
June 28, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
James N. Mattis
James N. Mattis
Use of electricity
Two (2) suspects in the theft from the Iraqi National Guard (ING) Training Camp at Camp Junction City, allege being abused while in custody. Both suspects provided facts "proven to be false and established patterns of not providing the truth". ...
Report on an informal investigation conducted by Brigadier General Richard P. Formica into specific allegations of detainee abuse within CJSOTF-AP [Combined Joint Special Operating Task Force – Arabian Peninsula] and 5th SF [Special Forces] Group ...

Sargent Travis was accused of cruelty; maltreatment; attempted assault by battery; conspiracy to maltreat; and dereliction of duty. Specifically, he conspired, witnessed and encouraged electrocution of a detainee by PFC Andrew J Sting, then ...

June 15, 2006
Photograph, UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Matthew K. Travis
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity
This is a Court-Martial of Staff Sergeant Peasgood who was accused of and pleaded guilty to mistreating, shocking and hitting three (3) Iraqi detainees with an M34 blasting device and stripped them of their clothing. His punishment is a ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Photograph, Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Court-Martial)
General, Use of electricity, Cramped confinement, Physical assault
A detainee alleges that when he was captured he was taken to a palace in Ramadi where he was kicked and electrocuted. The detainee was medically checked during this period and no signs of injury or abuse were indicated.
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, General, Use of electricity
When interrogator left the interrogation room for a few minutes, Special Forces members had entered the room and were blowing smoke on detainee when interrogator returned to the room. Detainee states that others touched his hands with an ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, General, Use of electricity