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 (10)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Aug. 26, 2006 | CID | ACLU-RDI 4528
On 24 Dec 2003 American forces raided a house in the Slaikh Alrabee neighborhood of Baghdad. The men inside were taken in to custody with blindfolds and cuffed behind their backs. The men allege that during their arrest they were abused by being ...
Sept. 24, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
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
Jan. 20, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2425
This is a sworn Statement by an Army Sergeant assigned to the the Internal Reaction Force at Camp Ganci, Camp Vigilance, and Abu Ghraib Prison Detention Facility. This sworn statement concerns an incident on August 23, 2003, when, after a mortar ...
June 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Threat
July 18, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 659
This is the deposition of Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski regarding conditions at Abu Ghraib Detention Facility. In her interview, Gen. Karpinski testified that she visited cell blocks 1A and 1B regularly; that Abu Ghraib housed juveniles ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Transcript), Judicial (Transcript)
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Thomas Pappas, Ricardo Sanchez, Geoffrey D. Miller, Barbara G. Fast, Paul Hill, Kretzer, Walter Wojdakowski, Michael Diamond, David D. McKiernan
Physical assault, General, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Other
May 27, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 710
Unknown interview with the 229th Military Police Company stated his/her sworn statement that they were not aware of any abuse or humiliation of detainees. Did mention reporting something, but did not elaborate. Also mentioned rumors of OGA ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Statement)
Use of phobias, Other Humiliation
June 10, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 14

Approximately 73-year-old Iraqi woman reported that she had been subjected to assault and sexual abuse, including being sodomized with a stick and touched in private areas; that she was forced to "swim" in water thrown on ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Nelson van Eck, Thom Jones
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Aug. 03, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 30
Detainee alleged that he was arrested by U.S. forces and placed in a hole in the ground with other detainees at an unknown location in Samara, Iraq for about three days, then threatened with death and taken to a room where he was placed on a box ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
July 05, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 91
Investigation prompted by NYT article containing victim's allegations of torture and abuse during detention in Abu Ghraib from November 29 through December 31, 2003. Investigation concludes there is not “sufficient evidence to prove or disprove ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Bisher Amin Khalil al Rawi
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation
July 02, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 105
Investigations into numerous alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison and Al-Ademeya Palace based on reports from CACI and Titan translation employees. Alleged abuses include the physical beatings and humiliation of various detainees, forced exercise ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced physical training
DOA | ACLU-RDI 209

This report reflects the findings of an investigation, led by Major General Antonio Taguba, into the allegations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. The investigation took place in February of 2004 and concluded that numerous instances of ...

Oct. 19, 2004
Oversight Report, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Antonio Taguba
Antonio Taguba, Ricardo Sanchez, R. Steven Whitcomb, David D. McKiernan, Kinard J. La Fate, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald J. Ryder
ISN 151365, ISN 13077, ISN 151108, ISN 152307, ISN 150542, ISN 150422, ISN 150425, ISN 152529, ISN 7787, ISN 150427, ISN 151362, ISN 18470
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other