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 (4791)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2409
This DOD memo details the U.S. authority for detaining foreign nationals engaged in military-type activities and specifically cites the 1949 Geneva Convention. "Persons currently being detained by the US military…are subject to the protections ...
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2410
This DOD memo is to address allegations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in the wake of news reports and features, i.e. Sixty Minutes II, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. It lists the events and action taken in response and specifically ...
June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Aug. 27, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 2411
DOS cable to US Embassy and Consular posts concerning how to address allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. The cable instructs the embassy and consular officials to understand the different allegations of abuse and how to address questions ...
June 15, 2006
Cable
James R. Schlesinger, Harold Brown, Tillie Kidd Fowler, Charles Albert Horner, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones, George R. Fay, Antonio Taguba
Jan. 07, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 2412
Irene Khan the Secretary General of Amnesty International writes to Secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld condemning the use of hoods when transporting and interrogating detainees. Ms. Khan states that the hooding and blindfolding of detainees is ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Irene Khan
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Jan. 22, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 2413
Javier Zuniga of Amnesty International letter to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld asking for permission for an Amnesty International delegation to visit Guantanamo Bay detention facility "to observe the conditions under which prisoners are detained ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Javier Zuniga
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld
May 18, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 2414
Letter is from Mile Florence Rinaldi of Amnisty International in France to Sec. Def. Rumsfeld in conjunction with Amnesty International's memo on rights of detainees in custody. The letter’s author"Urges" the Secretary to "ensure detainees held ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Mile Florence Rinaldi
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Mile Florence Rinaldi
July 06, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 2415
Letter is from Mile Florence Rinaldi of Amnisty International in France to Sec. Def. Rumsfeld in conjunction with Amnesty International's memo on rights of detainees in custody. The letter’s author"Urges" the Secretary to "ensure detainees held ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Mile Florence Rinaldi
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Mile Florence Rinaldi
July 30, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 2416
Letter is from a 29 year old British citizen, with copies sent to Colin Powell, Jack Straw (UK Home Secretary), William Farish (US Ambassador to UK), John Howard (PM of Australia) and his local MP (Member of Parliament) in the UK. The letter ...
June 15, 2006
Letter
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Wolfowitz, Colin L. Powell, Jack Straw, John Winston Howard, Stephen Creswell Timms , William Stamps Farish, IV
Feroz Ali Abassi, Moazzam Begg, David Hicks
Aug. 06, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2417
Coalition Provisional Authority memo prescribes standards to be applied in the Iraqi prison system under authority of the Ministry of Justice. States "Basic Principles and Control" for detention. Includes 32 sections with headings such as ...
Dec. 16, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2418
DoD memo on recent deaths of detainees at Bagram detention facility. This is a Q&A to be followed when investigating the circumstances of the deaths.