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 25, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 900
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
Oct. 02, 2003 | CID | ACLU-RDI 15
Two NCOs and two enlisted men from B Company, 1/36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division severely assaulted several detained youths while the detainees' heads were covered with sandbags and their hands restrained with flexi-cuffs. The ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Cramped confinement, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
Aug. 03, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 30
Detainee alleged that he was arrested by U.S. forces and placed in a hole in the ground with other detainees at an unknown location in Samara, Iraq for about three days, then threatened with death and taken to a room where he was placed on a box ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3842

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.

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Jonathan B. Schwartz
Katherine M. Gorove | Michael J. Dennis
George W. Bush, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Katherine M. Gorove, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Frank E. Schmelzer , Michael J. Dennis, Mark P. Lagon, Lorne Craner, Michael G. Kozak, Miriam K. Hughes, Janice A. Smith
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Walid Bin Attash
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
June 24, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4067
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 ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Edward R. Cummings | Todd F. Buchwald | Joshua L. Dorosin | James H. Thessin
Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald, Joshua L. Dorosin, James H. Thessin, Michael J. Dennis
Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Forced grooming, Other Humiliation
June 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4339
State Department cable regarding the release of a biography of a former Danish Guantanamo detainee, Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane. Mr. Abderrahmane has not made any public statements alleging mistreatment, but the Danish press is highlighting the ...
Dec. 17, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane
Physical assault, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Forced grooming, Other Humiliation
Feb. 12, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 296
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 ...
Oct. 19, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan, Steve Stephanowicz, Carolyn A. Wood, Thomas Pappas, Ricardo Sanchez, John Israel
Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Aug. 23, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 4999

This report discusses an investigation into the alleged abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib Detention Facility. The investigation was ordered initially by LTG Ricardo S. Sanchez, Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF-7). LTG Sanchez ...

Aug. 25, 2004
Oversight Report, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba, Barbara G. Fast, Walter Wojdakowski, Thomas G. Miller, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Thomas Pappas, Jerry Phillabaum, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Steven L. Jordan, Carolyn A. Wood, L. Paul Bremer, Colin L. Powell, Robert P. Walters Jr, Marc Warren, Sabrina D. Harman, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Lynndie Rana England, Daniel Kazmier, Franklin D. Raab, Steven Boltz, David M. Price, L. Potter, Dennis E. Stevanus, Aldo Fierro, Varej Filhanessian, George O'Kane, Anthony Cavallaro, David O. Sutton, First Sergeant McBride, Staff Sergeant Hannifan, Staff Sergeant Cole, David W. DiNenna, Sr. , Sergeant Spiker, Darrell Jarred Plude , Joshua R. Claus, Sergeant Presnell, Sergeant Lawson, Michael D. Thompson
Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced grooming, Other
OLC | ACLU-RDI 6593
This legal memorandum from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzes whether particular conditions of detention at certain CIA facilities overseas are consistent with the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The memorandum concludes that conditions at ...
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming