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 (118)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Sept. 02, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 1309
This Article 32 Proceedings concerns an accusation of an incident of detainee abuse at Camp Bucca. Iraq. The subject of the hearing is Sergeant Scott A. McKenzie, a female Master Sergeant and a Specialist accused of knocking down, punching and ...
July 01, 2005
UCMJ (Article 32)
Scott A. McKenzie
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Stress positions
Nov. 15, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 1320
This is the Court Martial record of Specialist Timothy F. Canjar. It includes the charges against Spc. Canjar and his plea(s) as well as. Spc. Canjar was charged with: 1) dereliction of duty; 2) maltreatment of detainees (4 counts); 3) intent to ...
July 01, 2005
UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Timothy F. Canjar
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Sexual, Religious, Forced physical training, Other, Threat, Other Humiliation
Apr. 16, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3544

A memo from Secretary Rumsfeld approving a set of interrogation techniques, including some that it admits may be "inconsistent with" provisions of the Geneva Conventions.  The techniques include "Pride and Ego Down," ...

June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
James T. Hill
Donald H. Rumsfeld, James T. Hill, Richard B. Myers
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation
Aug. 02, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1118
The purpose of the memo was to provide updated information on the courts-martial involving allegations of military police's abuse against detainees in Abu Gharib Prison in Iraq. It outlines courts-martial on seven military police charged with ...
May 16, 2005
Legal Memo, UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced physical training
June 21, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1182
Investigation of photographs taken of a hooded and flexcuffed detainee in a stress position with a U.S. soldier simulating sodomy on him with a broomstick. Investigation shows that the detainees were not put into the stress positions for reasons ...
May 16, 2005
Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Physical assault, Sexual, Stress positions, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Aug. 11, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 962
Court Martial Records of SPC Megan Ambuhl, who did not participate in abuse of detainees, but pled guilty to Dereliction of Duty for not reporting the activities of MP and MI personnel at Abu Ghraib Prison. She was sentenced to forfeiture of 1/2 ...
Apr. 06, 2005
UCMJ (Court-Martial), Judicial (Transcript)
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Assault/death, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Hooding/Goggling, Sexual, Religious, Forced physical training, Threat, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
Sept. 11, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 963
In October 2003, Specialist Cruz participated in the abuse of detainees in the Hard Site at Abu Ghraib. Spc. Cruz and others ordered three (3) detainees to strip naked. The detainees were handcuffed together with metal handcuffs "to mess with ...
Apr. 06, 2005
UCMJ (Court-Martial), Judicial (Transcript)
Armin J. Cruz
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training
May 04, 2006 | CID | ACLU-RDI 160
Military Police Investigative Report in to allegations of a soldier in Afghanistan pointing a gun at the head of a restrained detainee. The soldier offered a statement in which he states 1) the gun was a BB gun and not his service weapon; and 2) ...
Apr. 05, 2005
Investigative File (CID)
Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions
Aug. 31, 2004 | DOA | OJAG | ACLU-RDI 467

An email between members of the Staff Judge Advocate, forwarding a Washington Post article titled "Documents Helped Sow Abuse, Army Report Finds," from August 30, 2004.

Mar. 23, 2005
Email
Ricardo Sanchez, Paul J. Kern, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Alberto Mora, Geoffrey D. Miller, George W. Bush, John P. Abizaid, George R. Fay, Thomas Pappas
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Religious
May 10, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 660
This document is the condensed notes of an interview of at Screener in Abu Ghraib Prison from Mid-December 2003 through January 2004. The interview is a verbatim rendition of the Screener’s statement and it is noted that the statement is to be ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
George R. Fay
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other