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 (129)

Letter is a response to questions from Senator Leahy regarding the treatment of detainees in US custody. The letter denies the use of hoods, stripping or stress positions. States that "Lt Gen. Sanchez's 05/13/2004 memo prohibits the use of ...
Documents related to CID Investigations 0233-03-CID259-61217 and 0022-04-CID149-. Includes two Agent's Investigative Reports and a translation of a statement provided by a detainee. The first Agent's Investigative report summarizes interviews ...
Navy Chief Petty Officer, Gunners Mate, discusses in-processing and handling of detainees. States that taped up goggles are put on detainees. Other units use hoods. States, "I've never seen anybody get kicked, punched, or sexually abused. Guys ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Sworn statement by a senior interrogator located at Radwaniya Palace Complex (RPC) from May to September 2003. Discusses interrogation procedures at a Temporary Holding Facility, and states, "Once detainees arrive, they are searched, screened for ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Threat, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation
Sworn statement by a Colonel with authority over detainee operations. He addresses the situation concerning an Iraqi family (2 Brothers & 1 Sister) that was arrested, detained and interrogated at Abu Ghrtaib prison. The Colonel states, "I'm ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Stress positions
Statement of a US Army major. Contains summaries of interviews with two detainees. First detainee, who was arrested on December 24, 2003, reported that he was "beaten ... and punched, ... hung by a nail from the wall with his hands bound behind ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, General, Stress positions
Sworn statement of a detainee. States that, following his capture on April 27, 2004, he was put in a compartment so small that he could only sit in it. States he was severely beaten in an attempt to force a confession, threatened with rape, ...

Report on an AR 15-6 inquiry into treatment of a detainee captured by a SEAL team in January 2004. This is the conclusions and findings of the investigator. Several soldiers state that SEALs performed a battlefield interrogation, during which ...

June 30, 2006
UCMJ (Article 15)
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Other Humiliation
Report on an informal investigation conducted by Brigadier General Richard P. Formica into specific allegations of detainee abuse within CJSOTF-AP [Combined Joint Special Operating Task Force – Arabian Peninsula] and 5th SF [Special Forces] Group ...
Memorandum appointing Brigadier General John T. Furlow as the investigating officer for an AR 15-6 investigation into allegations made by the FBI regarding detainee abuse at Guantanamo. Allegations include the use of dogs, impersonation of FBI ...