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 (8)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Apr. 27, 2005 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6616
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman. This re-released report includes a description of psychologist Bruce Jessen and his role in the interrogation of Gul Rahman. A version of this document was re-released in ...
Sept. 29, 2016
Oversight Report
CIA Office of the Inspector General
Bruce Jessen, John Helgerson, James Mitchell
Gul Rahman
EIT, Use of water, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
May 10, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6582
An OLC memo from Bradbury to Rizzo addressing whether the combined use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (including waterboarding) violates the prohibition on torture. The memo concludes that it would not violate the torture statute if used ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Steve Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury, James B. Comey, Jay Bybee, Daniel B. Levin
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
May 10, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4986

An OLC memo addressing whether the combined use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (including waterboarding) violates the prohibition on torture.  The memo concludes that it would not.

Apr. 16, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo, James B. Comey, Jay S. Bybee, Daniel B. Levin
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
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
Sept. 16, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2250
Criminal Investigation Command (CID) report into allegations of assault, cruelty and maltreatment of a detainee by guards at Abu Ghraib. Among the detainee's allegations, he stated that a US Army Sergeant hung him by his arms from the bars of a ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Donald J. Ryder, Thom Jones
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
May 01, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2274
CID report of investigation into allegations made by a detainee that, after his first arrested on April 25, 2004 he was punched, kicked and slapped at then transported to a facility at Mosul Airfield known as the “Disco”. He stated that during ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID)
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Nudity
June 12, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 2298
Detainee alleged that while at Abu Ghraib prison several soldiers slapped; punched; choked; struck his head, shoulders, and arms with a retractable metal baton; jumped on him; forced him to lean against a wall in a seated position; forced him to ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Walling, Sexual, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training
June 09, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 4998

General Bantz J. Craddock, Commander United States Southern Command, ordered an AR 15-6 investigation into alleged instances of abuse at Guantanamo. He appointed Brigadier General John T. Furlow and Lieutenant General Randall M. Schmidt to ...

July 14, 2005
Oversight Report, Investigative File
Randall Mark Schmidt | John T. Furlow
Bantz J. Craddock, John T. Furlow, Randall Mark Schmidt
Mohammed al Qahtani, Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other