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 (94)

Emails between Army Officers concerning various issues surrounding detainees and their detention, including deaths and off-base investigations. There are numerous attachments to the emails. Mostly redacted.
May 16, 2005
Email
Donald J. Ryder
In response to increased attention to detainee conditions in U.S. government and media the Army instituted reforms on handling and detainees and reporting any abuse. The document consists of several "Executive Summary’s" that detail the issues ...
May 16, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald J. Ryder, George R. Fay, James R. Schlesinger
Proposed press release about detainee abuse in Iraq. Packet includes an article from CNN.com about the Abu Ghraib photos, a release from the Coalition Forces Office of Public Affairs announcing the initiation of an investigation into detainee ...
May 16, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, Donald J. Ryder
Army talking points on the abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib prison. Provides basic information about the Abu Ghraib investigation for speaking with the press.
May 16, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan, Donald J. Ryder
Email described that in December, 2003, a US soldier dropped an unconscious Iraqi male off to a medical facility; medical examinations concluded that the Iraqi male died from blunt force trauma to the head. The email concluded that an army ...
Sept. 20, 2005
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Physical assault, General
Email includes a memo from the Provost Marshall, Donald J. Ryder, that provides guidance for handling detainees at multinational maneuver battalion (MNB-N) detainee collection points.
Dec. 21, 2005
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Emails discuss an attached PowerPoint (ppt.) on enemy POW detention and interrogation, the ppt. was forwarded to different recipients. [PowerPoint slides not attached].
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Stephen J. Curry
Emails discuss a "HASC murder board." The emails are heavily redacted. An attached document contains an operations update for the Secretary of Defense.
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Ricardo Sanchez, Donald H. Rumsfeld
The original email contains four attachments, including photos from Abu Ghraib (the photos are not included in this document). The "Tasking Summary" is included in the email, its subject is entitled "Investigations." The Summary mentions a final ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba
Emails discuss a briefing to the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. The significant points from the briefing are attached and included in the email; included in the points is a discussion of whether any team member observed detainee abuse at ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Donald H. Rumsfeld