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 (67)

This document is part of the Taguba Report (Annex 83) and included here in the Fay Report. The interview is of Sergeant First Class Keith A. Comer, Platoon Sergeant of the 229th Military Police Company assigned to Abu Ghraib Prison in 2003. ...

Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, General
This is a sworn statement by a Lieutenant Colonel with the 320th Military Police Battalion concerning his deployment to, and experience at Abu Ghraib prison. "It became obvious to me that the majority of our detainees were detained as the result ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas, Ricardo Sanchez, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Barbara G. Fast
Sworn statement of a Captain with the 372nd Military Police Company. The Captain states "I was shocked when I noticed that the detainees in Wing 1 were naked. There was one with women's underwear. . . . " Was told the nudity of detainees and ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Janis Leigh Karpinski
Physical assault, General, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
This is the deposition of Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski regarding conditions at Abu Ghraib Detention Facility. In her interview, Gen. Karpinski testified that she visited cell blocks 1A and 1B regularly; that Abu Ghraib housed juveniles ...

Emails between Army officers sharing the results of the Taguba Report concerning the events of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

This is a memo of admonishment for Gen. Karpinski's service record file. It pertains to her leadership and command of the Military Police activities and abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.
Oct. 19, 2004
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Ricardo Sanchez
Janis Leigh Karpinski
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez
Testimony of Captain Marc C. Hale, Commander, 670th Military Police Company. Cpt. Hale described how his unit got to Iraq and the challenges they faced as soldiers. He stated that they were for escorting personnel such as contractors and other ...
Oct. 19, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan, Marc C. Hale, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Paul Hill, Ricardo Sanchez
Testimony of First Lieutenant Michael A. Drayton, Commander, 870th Military Police Company. 1LT Drayton described the tension between the Military Police and the Military Intelligence components at Abu Ghraib. Then the 1Lt stated "One of my ...
Oct. 19, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan, Michael A. Drayton, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Jerry Phillabaum, Thomas Pappas
General, Physical assault
Cpt. Reese was the commander of the soldiers directly involved in detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib. He said of his men “I'm appalled by what I saw from my soldiers; 2 out of the 7 here are correctional officers. And they were specifically put there ...
This memo describes Captain Ray's on-site investigation of Abu Ghraib prison. The memo highlights that "Nearly every soldier had a different method in which they made [head] counts of detainees" as well as the lack of Standard Operating ...
Oct. 19, 2004
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
Ed Ray
Ed Ray, Janis Leigh Karpinski