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 (145)

The document is an internal FBI memorandum from the FBI General Counsel, regarding legal advice and opinions about the treatment of prisoners and detainees by FBI personnel. The memorandum is almost entirely redacted, but includes information on ...
Jan. 15, 2010
Legal Memo
Gary M. Bald, Valerie E. Caproni
November 2001 memo from Yoo and Delahunty to Gonzales summarizing treaties and laws applicable to the conflict in Afghanistan and to the treatment of persons captured by U.S. Armed Forces.
Dec. 15, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Alberto R. Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales, John Yoo, Robert J. Delahunty, George W. Bush

An OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzing whether certain conditions of confinement used by the CIA in covert overseas facilities are consistent with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.  The conditions are: (1) ...

A letter providing legal advice regarding whether the conditions of detention at certain oversears CIA facilities are consistent with the applicable standards of the DTA.  It concludes that the conditions of confinement did not constitute ...

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee.  It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique … ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation

An OLC memo withdrawing the interrogation memo of July 20, 2007.

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
David J. Barron
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
David J. Barron, Eric H. Holder, Jr., John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury

A letter from Scott Muller, general counsel of the CIA, to John Yoo, OLC, enclosing a list of legal principles applicable to the CIA's detention and interrogation of detainees, including the use of the "enhanced interrogation ...