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 (21)

Sworn statement of sergeant at Abu Ghraib including a description of his surprise that "certain approaches" were acceptable. He witnessed a detainee left in cold temperatures without clothes or a blanket and with untreated wounds. The sergeant ...
This statement of a CACI civilian contractor hired as a Screener was assigned to Abu Ghraib prison in min-November 2003. He remained there for two (2) months. He states he was not properly trained in the Interrogation Rules of Engagement (IROE) ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas
Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
This statement of a CACI civilian contractor hired as a Screener was assigned to Abu Ghraib prison in min-November 2003. He remained there for two (2) months. He states he was not properly trained in the Interrogation Rules of Engagement (IROE) ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas
Physical assault, General, Use of electricity, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
Interviewee arrived to AG around mid-October as the Day-shift Non-commissioned Officer in Charge. Stated that his/her job was to manage detainee sleep plans, and to make sure the detainees were showered, fed, and did not cause problems. ...
Interviewee was assigned to AG on October 21 as the Chief of the Terrorist, Foreign Fighters and Extremist element of the JIDC. Interviewee recalled one detainee being handcuffed to the cell bar, which restricted his movement. Interviewee ...
This sworn statement is by a civilian contractor with the Titan Corp. assigned to Abu Ghraib prison on October 13, 2003 as a Linguist/Translator to conduct translation services during interrogations at the prison. The translator recalled hearing ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas
Use of water, Other, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced grooming

Email includes news articles about high level detainees, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah and the "harsh" interrogation methods the CIA employs. The email includes another article, which reports specific accounts of abuse.

Emails discuss and include a cable from the U.K. Bar Association Chair and others expressing their opinion on interrogation methods utilized by the U.S. military in Iraq and Guantanamo. The U.K. Bar Association Chair stated that the "extreme ...
Testimony of Mr. Steve Stephanowicz US Civilian Contract Interrogator, 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. Mr. Stephanowicz is a Navy intelligence specialist. He was employed by CJTF-7 to support operations in Iraq, specifically, Abu Ghraib ...