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 (253)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Dec. 03, 2014 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 5935
In March 2009, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence decided to initiate a review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. On December 13, 2012 the Committee voted to approve its Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention ...
Apr. 08, 2009
Oversight Report
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Website
John Helgerson, Alberto Gonzalez, David Addington, Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell , Steven Bradbury, Jose Rodriguez, Rizzo, Condoleezza Rice, Richard B. Cheney, George Bush, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, William "Jim" Haynes, John Yoo, Jay Bybee
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Mock Burial, Rendition, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced grooming, Forced physical training
Sept. 15, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4536

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 ...

Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Forced physical training
Feb. 22, 2007 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4537

This CID Report investigates numerous allegations of abuse that occurred in September and November of 2003 in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison. Included in the file is the testimony of detainee victims and members of the 372nd Military Police ...

Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Habibullah, Dilawar
Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Sexual, Physical assault, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
Aug. 02, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 4887
These emails are a response to for a request for feedback from FBI agents who have cycled through Guantanamo and witnessed detainee abuse. An agent responded and wrote "I did observe treatment that was not only aggressive, but personally very ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Valerie E. Caproni
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity, Environmental manipulation
May 28, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2457
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 ...
June 30, 2006
Letter
Patrick Leahy, Ricardo Sanchez
Stress positions, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Environmental manipulation
May 25, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2494
Collection of five (5) sworn statements about abuse in detention facilities in Iraq, attached to ACLU-RDI 2493. None of the statements report witnessing any physical abuse at Abu Ghraib, but all recount claims by detainees of abuse at other ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
George R. Fay
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Family/others, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
June 06, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2551
Sworn statement by a screener at Abu Ghraib prison regarding two (2) Iraqi women and their two (2) brothers detained at Abu Ghraib prison in January 2004. States, "One [brother] said he was raped with a bottle, and they mentioned another brother ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Nudity, Sexual, Other Humiliation
June 29, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2599
Sworn statement of an Operations Sergeant who discusses interrogation practices. Refers to a detainee, "our number one target," who was captured by Iraqi police, who "beat [redacted] with the pistol to the point where his head was split open in a ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, General, Assault/death, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Threat, Environmental manipulation
Nov. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2315
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 ...
June 15, 2006
Oversight Report, Investigative File
Richard P. Formica
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Richard P. Formica
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2407
This DOD memo is to address allegations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in the wake of news reports and features, i.e. Sixty Minutes II, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. It lists the events and action taken in response and specifically ...
June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Physical assault, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual