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)

Email updates recipient of the current environment in Guantanamo, during the author's assignment there, he/she has observed approximately twelve interrogations. He/she observed or learned of the following techniques being used by the Department ...
FBI agent details abuse of detainee at Camp Delta, Guantanamo
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Religious

Investigation initiated on the basis of a report by a serviceman's wife that he had a photograph of himself pointing a gun at the head of a bound and hooded detainee. When interviewed, the soldier explained that he was following orders and ...

CID Report of investigation regarding alleged abuse of detainee at unknown detention facility in Tikrit, Iraq. Detainee picked up by Iraqi Police on or about April 15, 2004. He was interviewed with the assistance of an interpreter on May 5, ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
CID Report of investigation initiated by Secretary of Defense on basis of “a photograph suspected to depict U.S. Army personnel abusing an Iraqi detainee.” The photograph, taken with a digital camera and found on a government computer, depicts ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Nelson van Eck, Jacqueline J. Scott
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Discusses incidents of abuse of detainees by Army personnel that have been substantiated. Legal discussion point out that Article 93 does not specifically prohibit these acts, but does prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and intent ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, General, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Nudity, Sexual, Religious, Threat, Other Humiliation
FBI email to FBI field agents encouraging them to report incidents of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay. One (1) agent responded that he observed a detainee in a "stress position", but the details are not in his email response.
Jan. 02, 2007
Email
Stress positions
This email is a response to a Bureau wide memo sent by Steve McCraw to illicit information from FBI agents who toured through Guantanamo Bay to report any suspected or witnessed abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. This FBI agent touring through ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Non-legal Memo, Email
Steven C. McCraw
Stress positions, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
This email is a response to a Bureau wide memo sent by Steve McCraw to illicit information from FBI agents who toured through Guantanamo Bay to report any suspected or witnessed abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The agent related the ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Non-legal Memo, Email
Steven C. McCraw
Stress positions, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature
CID Report describes the charges of aggravated assault, cruelty and maltreatment, and conspiracy being investigated. This document is related to ACLU RDI 1538.
Sept. 20, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Walling, General, Stress positions