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 (29)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 07, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 1837
Original email describes a visit from [redacted], a committee member of an Islamic human rights organization. The email also references a conversation between the author and [redacted] discussing alleged abuse cases that took place at Abu Ghraib.
Dec. 21, 2005
Email
Geoffrey D. Miller, Ricardo Sanchez
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
Apr. 05, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1343
This report by a DAIG Team interviewed 24 individuals and conducted 4 sensing sessions consisting of 23 Soldiers. All Soldiers interviewed and sensed were given surveys to assess factors associated with combat stress. The inspection took place ...
July 15, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other
DOA | ACLU-RDI 661
Sworn statement from a CACI contractor who screened detainees arriving at Abu Ghraib from Asamiya Palace (alternate spelling: Adhamiya Palace) from mid-December 2003 through January 2004. The Screener describes in her statement hearing ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other
May 18, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 667
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 ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Thomas Pappas, Barbara G. Fast, Ricardo Sanchez
Use of water, Other, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
Jan. 31, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 721
This sworn statement by a Corporal, interrogator assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion and the 205th Military Intelligence Battalion. Explained that detainees would be brought to him either in handcuffs or not, would request that ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of water, Other, Stress positions, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training, Other
May 11, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 845
Interviewee arrived to AG in late November 2003 as a member of the Tiger Team and then as an analyst. Interviewee noted the use of sandbags over detainee heads. Interviewee mentioned dogs were walked down the hallway, but did not go into ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Use of water, Other, Use of phobias, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
May 24, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 846
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 ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Ricardo Sanchez, Thomas Pappas
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Forced physical training
June 10, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 14

Approximately 73-year-old Iraqi woman reported that she had been subjected to assault and sexual abuse, including being sodomized with a stick and touched in private areas; that she was forced to "swim" in water thrown on ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Nelson van Eck, Thom Jones
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
July 28, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 28

An investigation into a detainee's allegation that he was "tortured" at a U.S. facility in Mosul in March 2004. Detainee indicated that after being arrested but before arriving at the facility, his captors -- American men in civilian ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
July 21, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 29

Investigation initiated on the basis of a report by a serviceman's wife that he had a photograph of himself pointing a gun at the head of a bound and hooded detainee. When interviewed, the soldier explained that he was following orders and ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling