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 (127)

Transcript of a media conversation where Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita provides background to the Abu Ghraib investigation.
Department of Defense Memo re: Talking Points on Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse. Public release.
Department of Defense talking points on Abu Ghraib detainee abuse which highlight how abuse is fundamentally against American military standards, how the majority of U.S. soldiers conduct themselves honorably, and how the abuse will be ...
Department of Defense talking points on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse. Main points include how disturbing the images are, how the Secretary and the DOD are taking the charges seriously, how the Department will hold violators accountable, how the ...
Instructions on how to handle Abu Ghraib investigation on a public relations level. Primary message is that abuses at Abu Ghraib was committed by a "small group of soldiers and civilian contractors who apparently failed to respect the dignity of ...
May 16, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones
Summarizes allegations against an Army officer accused of assault and threatening to kill Iraqi detainee. Describes investigation and military justice process.
May 16, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez, Raymond T. Odierno
Describes investigation into alleged misconduct by an officer. Allegations include assault and threatening to kill a detainee. The officer was removed from command and subject to Article 32 investigation and hearing.
Apr. 30, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez, Raymond T. Odierno
This Memo is fowarding Gen. Sanchez's September 14, 2003 memo (ACLU RDI 935) which states "this memo that the interpreters are civilians who are subject to the Geneva Conventions; the interrogation techniques are only for “security internees”; ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez
Ricardo Sanchez
General Sanchez states in this memo that the interpreters are civilians who are subject to the Geneva Conventions; the interrogation techniques are only for “security internees”; safeguards must be adhered to during interrogations; segregation of ...
Mar. 25, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez
Ricardo Sanchez
General Sanchez establishes guidlines (attached) for all interrogations and states in this memo that: the interpreters are civilians who are subject to the Geneva Conventions; the interrogation techniques are only for “security internees under ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez
Ricardo Sanchez