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 (90)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 20, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2117
Email refers to a proposed press release from the Commanding General discussing the detainee death and abuse investigations. [The press release is attached, the first page of the attachment is blank]. The press release explains that there are ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Other
May 20, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2120
Email includes two proposed copies of Donald J. Ryder's briefing to the Senate Arms Service Committee. One of the briefings is enclosed, it mentions that there are 69 CID investigations, forty-two of the sixty-nine cases involved incidents that ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Carl Levin, John Warner, Donald J. Ryder
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Other
May 28, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2143
Emails discuss upcoming hearings on detainee issues and a detainee sexual assault.
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Physical assault, Sexual
June 28, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2200
Emails include a tasking summary and a CID detainee abuse summary/chart. The summary provides that the CID is investigating: 80 violations (in facilities), 38 detainee deaths, 38 assaults, 3 sexual assaults, and a theft; 43 violations (outside of ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Antonio Taguba
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Other
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2243
Document summarizes and lists the recommendations made in the Jones-Fay Report. Included in the memo is a request for further investigation into CID case 0216-03-CID259-61211, an alleged sexual assault of a female detainee.
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Use of phobias
May 05, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2267
The executive summary, dated May 5, 2004, contains a table listing Military Police officers from the 377th Military Police Company who were flagged for various offenses. The pending investigations concern the deaths of two Bagram detainees ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
David D. McKiernan, Antonio Taguba, Ricardo Sanchez, Thomas F. Metz, James R. Helmly, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Michael N. Ertman, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Lynndie Rana England
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
Oct. 20, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2286
Detainee alleged that he was abused while in custody of U.S. forces. The detainee claims he was beaten, sexually assaulted and had his property stolen. Once released, detainee filed a complaint and told his story on Hardball with Chris Matthews. ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Nudity, Sexual, Other Humiliation
May 03, 2004 | DOA | OJAG | ACLU-RDI 2294

This document is the Court Martial - charge and prosecution package for Specialist Charles A. Graner, Jr. of the 372nd Military Police Company. SPC Graner was a key figure in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and this document contains the ...

Feb. 15, 2006
Photograph, UCMJ (Court-Martial), Judicial (Transcript)
Charles A. Graner, Jr.
Physical assault, Sexual, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Sexual, Religious, Forced physical training, Threat, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
June 12, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2298
Detainee alleged that while at Abu Ghraib prison several soldiers slapped; punched; choked; struck his head, shoulders, and arms with a retractable metal baton; jumped on him; forced him to lean against a wall in a seated position; forced him to ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Walling, Sexual, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training
Aug. 01, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2301
This CID investigation concerns an investigation in to detainee abuse in Afghanistan. A New York Times newspaper was releasing a story on 12 May 04, concerning allegations of a Afghan Police Colonel that was alleged to be abused by U.S. Forces in ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Sexual, Assault/death, Physical assault, Threat