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 (38)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Apr. 30, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 425

Letter from Detainee's counsel to Army Claims Service for alleged abuse, torture and other mistreatment by U.S. Army in Iraq. The attorney is making the claim under the Military Claimns ack and seeks compensation in excess of $100,000.00. The ...

Feb. 28, 2005
Legal Memo, Letter
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Assault/death, Rendition, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Isolation, Threat
DOA | ACLU-RDI 434
Letter to mother of claimant conceding that "US forces were negligent in shooting your son" and improperly detaining him. Offers settlement of $1,000.00 for all claims against the US for the incident. The admission of a wrongful shooting and ...
Feb. 28, 2005
Letter
Physical assault, General, Other
Oct. 22, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3730
United Nations Special Rapporteur report on allegations of potential detainee abuse at Kandahar, Afghanistan. This is an annex of a report which purports to describe how suspected Taliban detainees were bound and hooded while in U.S. custody in ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Physical assault, Stress positions, Cramped confinement
July 14, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3017

FBI letter from T. J. Harrington, Deputy Assistant Director, FBI to Gen. Ryder Major General US Army Criminal Investigation Command describing three (3) situations observed by FBI agents of highly aggressive interrogation techniques/assault ...

Dec. 15, 2004
Letter
Thomas J. Harrington
Donald J. Ryder
Thomas J. Harrington, Donald J. Ryder, Marion E. Bowman, Robert L. Dietz, Daniel Dell'Orto
Physical assault, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious
Nov. 04, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3094
FBI Letter from T. J. Harrington to the Dept. of Defense concerning suspected mistreatment of detainees. The letter notifies DOD of three separate incidents of "highly aggressive interrogation techniques being used against detainees in ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Letter
Thomas J. Harrington
William J. Haynes, II, Marion E. Bowman, Thomas J. Harrington
Physical assault, Sexual, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6504
This document is a fax from [redacted], [redacted] Legal Group, DCI Counterterrorist Center, CIA to Steve Bradbury, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, containing answers composed by the CIA' s Office of Medical Services to the ...
Letter
Steve Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature
Sept. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6561
This letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo is the Office of Legal Counsel's response to the proposed use of twelve interrogation techniques during the interrogation of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and whether or not these techniques would violate U.S. ...
Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
DOJ | ACLU-RDI 6585
This document is a letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo stating that the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Sharif al-Masri will not violate the U.S. constitution, statute, or other treaty obligation. Levin says ...
Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin
Khalid Al-Masri
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity