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 (85)

This is a CID investigation into the death of an unknown Iraqi insurgent who died at Baghdad Central Confinement Facility (BCCF) Abu Ghraib, Iraq after being captured following a house raid in Baghdad. The detainee was brought to the hospital for ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Investigative File (CID), Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Unknown Iraqi Male, Baghdad, Iraq August 4, 2005
Physical assault

This document was faxed from the CIA to Steven Bradbury (OLC). It describes the CIA's technique of "horizontal sleep deprivation," wherein a detainee is placed on a large blanket on the floor and chained such that he cannot sleep. ...

An investigation into alleged aggravated assault, cruelty, and maltreatment of an Iraqi prisoner by U.S. forces.  The detainee stated that he was held at the "Disco" (a detention facility in Mosul, Iraq) for approximately one ...

CID investigation into allegations of prisoner maltreatment/abuse at Camp Cropper, Iraq. The investigation established probable cause to believe that eleven (11) members of the Military Police assigned to Camp Cropper engaged in cruelty and ...

This CID investigation relates to allegations of prisoner maltreatment and abuse by an Iraqi individual captured on July 22, 2004. The detainee alleges he was abused by members of the CIA while being held in a small room at an unknown location ...

Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death
Major General Michael Dunlavey was interviewed regarding his knowledge of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO). MG Dunlavey arrived to GTMO on or about December 13, 2002 as the Commander of the Joint Task Force-170. In regards to ...
DOD interview of FBI Behavioral Specialist who toured though Guantanamo from October 21, 2002 though January 7, 2003. The Behavioral Specialist stated that he did not see the use of Military Working Dogs (MWDs) but did hear detainees complaining ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Statement)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow, Geoffrey D. Miller
Physical assault, General, Sexual, Environmental manipulation, Temperature