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 (66)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 11, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 864
Interviewee arrived to AG around October 26, 2003 as an intelligence analyst.Interviewee recalled that " The closes[t] thing to detainee abuse I observed was making the detainees do PT." Interviewee stated, "[w]e requested the use of dogs for one ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training
May 23, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 866
Sworn statement of a Sergeant (E7) who arrived at Abu Ghraib prison around October 18-20, 2003 until February 10, 2004, The SGT stated that he had a series of duty assignments. He stated "hese duty assignments were to screening, document ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
June 01, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 867
Sworn statement of Lieutenant Colonel with the 115th Military Police Battalion. The LTC recalled being aware of one incident where a soldier urinated on a detainee. He also recalled another incident where a detainee returned to the SP/CF area ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Buford Blount, III, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Thomas Pappas, Keith Dayton, Geoffrey D. Miller
Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
June 04, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 868
Sworn statement of a Sergeant who arrived to Abu Ghraib prison at the end of July 2003 to December 16, 2003 with the advanced party as an interrogator. The Sgt recalled the use of unmuzzled dogs, along with loud music. He recalled interrogating ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas, Ricardo Sanchez
Use of phobias, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 25, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 900
This sworn statement is by a civilian contractor with the Titan Corp. assigned to Abu Ghraib prison on October 13, 2003 as a Linguist/Translator to conduct translation services during interrogations at the prison. The translator recalled hearing ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas
Use of water, Other, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced grooming
July 01, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 13

On 1/18/04, a detainee gave a statement about abuse he had suffered at Abu Ghraib and also stated that he had witnessed a translator forcibly sodomizing a male juvenile detainee while a female U.S. soldier observed and took pictures. (This ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Charles A. Graner, Jr., Ivan L. Frederick, II, Megan M. Ambuhl, Javal Sean Davis, Sabrina D. Harman
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
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
July 23, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 18

Investigation into abuse allegations by two detainees. One detainee stated that he was arrested by U.S. forces on 4/23/04, and then taken to a house near Adhamiya Palace where he was held for 15-16 days, punched in the face and ribs until he ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Dietary manipulation, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Aug. 26, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 27

CID Headquarters requested that CID in Iraq initiate an investigation based on a May 11, 2004 Los Angeles Times article by Tracy Wilkinson indicating that one female detainee was raped and another was forced to disrobe in front of male guards. ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Noor Abdul Kareem
Physical assault, Sexual, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Aug. 05, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 99
CID Report of investigation into alleged abuse and sodomy of detainee. Victim was captured on May 4, 2004 “by two males wearing green t-shirts, cargo pants and tan vests, who stated they worked for the Criminal Investigations."He was handcuffed, ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott, Nelson van Eck
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual