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 (277)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2487
This DOD memo is a bullet-point memo describing the DOD's operations at Guantanamo. It appears to be both an up-date for interested DOD officials and talking points on the detainee operations. It covers the chronology and rational of the detainee ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Geoffrey D. Miller
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2488
Court Martial and Record of Trial of Corporal Scott A Burton, of the 81mm Mortar Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. He was tried at Camp Pendleton, CA. Burton conspired with Corporal Jeffery S. Case to use a fire ...
May 11, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2489
PowerPoint presentation to Sec. Def. Rumsfeld on detainee operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. States that there is no evidence of non-compliance with Department of Defense orders at either facility save for "some minor infractions." These ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Other
Albert T. Church | Duane D. Thiessen
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Albert T. Church, Duane D. Thiessen
Aug. 11, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2490
List of annexes to report by BG Formica.
June 30, 2006
Chart/List
Richard P. Formica
May 15, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2491

Appointment of Brigadier General Richard P. Formica as an investigating officer to "conduct an informal investigation into allegations of detainee abuse occurring while detainees were under the control of [redacted] and were detained at ...

June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez
Richard P. Formica
Ricardo Sanchez, Richard P. Formica, John P. Abizaid
Nov. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2492
This document is part of an AR 15-6 investigative file with a chronology of the progress and steps taken to investigate abuses at the Abu Ghraib detention Facility.
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Richard P. Formica
Aug. 05, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2493
Memo from Major General Fay to Lieutenant General Sanchez stating that during the course of interviews on Abu Ghraib, five (5) detainees "reported possible abuse they believe occurred at other locations." Three (3) witnesses also "stated that ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
George Fay
Ricardo Sanchez
George R. Fay, Ricardo Sanchez
Physical assault, Sexual, General
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
Nov. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2495
List of legal references for Formica Report. Heavily redacted. Under a section headed "Interrogation," states, "US policy expressly prohibits as a means of or aid to interrogation: Acts of violence or intimidation, including physical or mental ...
DOA | ACLU-RDI 2496
Sworn statements of three (3) detainees at Abu Ghraib. FIRST STATEMENT: Detainee states that he "was never hit in Abu Ghraib," but was mistreated between his capture and his arrival at Abu Ghraib. Describes being interrogated and hit "by an ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Walling, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling