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 (192)

This is the second statement given by this Soldier/Interrogator concerning his observations and activities at Abu Ghraib prison. He states that he did in-fact witness Military Police and Interrogators "slap" and roughly handle detainees, ...
Interviewee was in AG approximately August 23, 2003 as a member of the Internal Reaction Force. Observed an MI yell at a detainee and hit the detainee in the back of the head with a closed fist. Also, observed another MI soldier put a ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript, Questionnaire)
Physical assault, Walling, General, Use of phobias, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
Interviewee arrived to AG in October 2003, was assigned to the prison. Stated that he/she would receive instructions from MI regarding sleep management of detainees. Stated that he/she was unaware of detainee humiliation, however, due to ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Thomas Pappas
Physical assault, General, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation
Memo of a conversation between an unknown interviewee and [redacted]. In the memo, the interviewee discusses methods used to get detainees to talk. Interviewee explained that detainees are captured, blindfolded, yelled at, pushed, in order to ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, General, Use of phobias, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
Interviewee was assigned to AG in early October as a the day shift Supervisor of Tier 1-3. Stated that he/she was unaware of detainee abuse and photos until it was reported on TV. Did recall, in mid-December "[o]ne day as I was walking the hard ...
This statement by an Army Captain with the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion was at several operating bases in Iraq and specifically at Camp Victory Bushmaster, Dogwood and Abu Ghraib Prison on or about July 23, 2003. The Capt. stated that ...
Interviewee was assigned to AG around the end of October 2003 on generated detail. Recounted an incident where he was escorting a detainee to the tier and the detainees were put into a pile on the floor. Then stated that [redacted] ran across ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Interviewee was a detainee at AG on or around December 2003. The detainee stated that "[w]hen I arrived, I was handcuffed and had a sandbag over my head." The detainee continued, "the treatment at Abu Ghraib was not bad and I was never hit in ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, Walling, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Interviewee arrived to AG around mid-October as the Day-shift Non-commissioned Officer in Charge. Stated that his/her job was to manage detainee sleep plans, and to make sure the detainees were showered, fed, and did not cause problems. ...
Interviewee's Procedure 15 interview is an addendum to his prior interview (Interviewee's title and length of assignment are unknown). Interviewee stated that he observed a detainee hooded and handcuffed to a railing. When he inquired about the ...