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 (174)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
July 18, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2546
Sworn statement of a government civilian employee (GS-12) regarding detention practices. Mentions detainees "who were complaining" and who "had obvious injuries to their faces, their wrists, and water blisters on their legs." According to the ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 25, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2494
Collection of five (5) sworn statements about abuse in detention facilities in Iraq, attached to ACLU-RDI 2493. None of the statements report witnessing any physical abuse at Abu Ghraib, but all recount claims by detainees of abuse at other ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
George R. Fay
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Family/others, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Aug. 08, 2005 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2472
A detainee who was not interested in being interrogated got in to a verbal spat with an interrogator who, after becoming angry with the detainee, threw a refrigerator and a chair at the detainees, injuring the detainee. There was also some very ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault, Other Humiliation
July 08, 2004 | USAF | ACLU-RDI 2466
This memo details how a Staff Sergeant took photos of himself standing with his rifle with his left foot propped on the detainee's buttocks, who is lying in the sand with hands bound behind his back and a sack covering his head. Photo was taken ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, Other Humiliation
USAF | ACLU-RDI 2467
This memo concerns the legal investigation and determination by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations following the discovery of photos depicting detainees bound, hooded and apparently abused while in custody. The photos were discovered ...
June 30, 2006
Legal Memo
Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Environmental manipulation
May 28, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2457
Letter is a response to questions from Senator Leahy regarding the treatment of detainees in US custody. The letter denies the use of hoods, stripping or stress positions. States that "Lt Gen. Sanchez's 05/13/2004 memo prohibits the use of ...
June 30, 2006
Letter
Patrick Leahy, Ricardo Sanchez
Stress positions, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Environmental manipulation
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2407
This DOD memo is to address allegations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in the wake of news reports and features, i.e. Sixty Minutes II, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. It lists the events and action taken in response and specifically ...
June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Physical assault, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Feb. 09, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2359
Summarized witness statement of a Sargent who was stationed at Guantanamo from August 2002 to February 2003 as an interrogator, however the Sargent stated that her “time was spent reviewing Memorandums for Record and draft interrogation plans ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow
Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Feb. 09, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2352
Summarized witness statement of a Sargent stationed at Guantanamo from August 2003 to February 2003. He was an interrogator for the Special Projects Team. The Sargent stated that during his interrogations he “never impersonated an FBI agent or ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow
Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Mar. 22, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2350
Summarized witness statement of a Lt. Col. who was the former Interrogation Control Element (ICE) Chief at Guantanamo for the first week in December 2002 and re-deployed at end of June 2003. When asked about detainee abuse alleged to have ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld
SERE, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity