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 (169)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Sept. 11, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 963
In October 2003, Specialist Cruz participated in the abuse of detainees in the Hard Site at Abu Ghraib. Spc. Cruz and others ordered three (3) detainees to strip naked. The detainees were handcuffed together with metal handcuffs "to mess with ...
Apr. 06, 2005
UCMJ (Court-Martial), Judicial (Transcript)
Armin J. Cruz
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training
Aug. 31, 2004 | DOA | OJAG | ACLU-RDI 467

An email between members of the Staff Judge Advocate, forwarding a Washington Post article titled "Documents Helped Sow Abuse, Army Report Finds," from August 30, 2004.

Mar. 23, 2005
Email
Ricardo Sanchez, Paul J. Kern, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Alberto Mora, Geoffrey D. Miller, George W. Bush, John P. Abizaid, George R. Fay, Thomas Pappas
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Religious
Aug. 23, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 497
Investigation into three (3) instances of abuse: one in which a looter were stripped of his clothing and released from custody; another where an Iraqi was accidently shot; and a third in which a detainee was repeatedly hit in the head with a ...
Mar. 23, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6), Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Physical assault, General, Nudity
July 18, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 659
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 ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Transcript), Judicial (Transcript)
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Thomas Pappas, Ricardo Sanchez, Geoffrey D. Miller, Barbara G. Fast, Paul Hill, Kretzer, Walter Wojdakowski, Michael Diamond, David D. McKiernan
Physical assault, General, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Other
May 10, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 660
This document is the condensed notes of an interview of at Screener in Abu Ghraib Prison from Mid-December 2003 through January 2004. The interview is a verbatim rendition of the Screener’s statement and it is noted that the statement is to be ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
George R. Fay
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other
DOA | ACLU-RDI 661
Sworn statement from a CACI contractor who screened detainees arriving at Abu Ghraib from Asamiya Palace (alternate spelling: Adhamiya Palace) from mid-December 2003 through January 2004. The Screener describes in her statement hearing ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other
May 28, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 663

Interview intended to "clarify possibly conflicting statements concerning detainees being stripped naked and held in cells in the 1A area." Stated that stripping detainees "might have been an interrogation tactic that could ...

Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay
Nudity, Other Humiliation, Other
June 18, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 665
Sworn statement of a Sergeant First Class (E7 - SFC) with A Company; 202 Military Intelligence Battalion assigned to Abu Ghraib Prison in October 2003. The SFC stated that "The document flow on detainees worked as follows. The interrogators would ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of phobias, Nudity
May 18, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 667
Sworn statement of sergeant at Abu Ghraib including a description of his surprise that "certain approaches" were acceptable. He witnessed a detainee left in cold temperatures without clothes or a blanket and with untreated wounds. The sergeant ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Thomas Pappas, Barbara G. Fast, Ricardo Sanchez
Use of water, Other, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
June 06, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 670
Sworn statement of a Captain, Commander of the 72nd Military Police Company who was deployed to Abu Ghraib prison from May 23, 2003 until October 15, 2003. The Captain stated his mission was to prepare the prison for transition to Iraqi control. ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Geoffrey D. Miller
Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity, Other