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 (55)

A series of blog posts by a former OLC lawyer, Marty Lederman, discussing the difference between the DOJ's memo on torture from August 2002 and the memo on torture from December 30, 2004 (ACLU-RDI 3547).  The posts conclude that the Bush ...

A 17 year-old Iraqi male detainee, Basim Mohammed Hussein, complains of back pain after being beaten by coalition forces. Claims to have been beaten at a house near Al-Adamiya Palace. He was beaten for eight days, including having his head was ...
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
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
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 ...
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 ...
Sworn statement of a civilian contractor linguist from the Titan Corp. assigned to Abu Ghraib prison in July 2003. He states that he was one of the first group of linguists/translators to arrive at Abu Ghraib and the training on detainee ...
Unknown interviewee was assigned to AG to establish connectivity of computers. Recalled an incident where an MI explained to an interrogator that a detainee was unavailable for interrogation because he had been interrogated for 10 hrs, stripped ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
This sworn statement by a Corporal, interrogator assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion and the 205th Military Intelligence Battalion. Explained that detainees would be brought to him either in handcuffs or not, would request that ...
Memo-Interview of a Tiger Team member assigned to the 1st Military Intelligence Battalion, 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. Noted that on an "interrogation plan form there were two columns of procedures listed. The first column listed the ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Use of water, Other, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other