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 (158)

This detainee Screening Report is a standard form letter for processing detainees taken in to custody. The detainee associated with this Screening Report is redacted, but the report details a female detainee and briefly lists questions asked of ...
This detainee Screening Report is a standard form letter for processing detainees taken in to custody. The detainee associated with this Screening Report is redacted, but the report details a female detaineeand lists questions asked of the ...
This detainee Screening Report is a standard form letter for processing detainees taken in to custody. The detainee associated with this Screening Report is redacted.
This detainee Screening Report is a standard form letter for processing detainees taken in to custody. The detainee associated with this Screening Report is redacted. Report details a male detainee, a Republican Guard in Tharthar. Classed as ...
Marine Corps inquiry in to possible abuse of a detainee on April 13, 2004 at the Al Mahmudiya Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Iraq. Members of the guard force at the Detention Facility were accused of shocking a detainee using a power cord by ...
June 28, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
James N. Mattis
James N. Mattis
Use of electricity
A video captured what appears to have been a killing of an injured non-combatant. The events are as follows: A black sedan crashed into a wall, the driver fell out of the driver's door and lay wounded on the ground. The man was seen moving his ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault
This memo discusses investigations and outcomes including punishment. Total of 62 cases of detainee abuse and/or death have been or are being investigated - 46 by CID and 16 at the unit level. There are a variety of cases discussed. Many have ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Thomas J. Romig
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
Emails discussed possible abuse in Abu Grarib prison. M.C. Briese stated he did not witness any mistreatment, however, stated Abu Graib was understaffed. Also, referred Caproni to CJIS and HRT management, explaining those offices spent a great ...
Incomplete account of detainee abuse. Pages are missing and the document is not complete. The detainee claimed that the guard made threatening gestures, shined a light in his eyes.
Dec. 21, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Other
Emails discuss a parole program for Iraqi detainees in order to deal with the problem of lengthy detentions. LTC [Redacted] states in the email, "[w]e hold detainees so long that there is no hope of getting actionable intelligence."