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 (538)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 14, 2011 | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 5601
This DOJ Letter from Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York to Alexander Abdo of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responds to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 16, 2009.
Jan. 14, 2011
Letter, Other
Preet Bharara
Alexander Abdo
Preet Bharara, Tara M. LaMorte
Mar. 14, 2007 | CID | ACLU-RDI 5537
This is a CID investigation into the reported death of two (2) Iraqi men in February 2005. The men, Jasim Mohammed Shihab and Ahmed Jasim Radhi were supposedly killed by US soldiers. investigation was begun more than a year after the deaths of ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Chart/List, Investigative File (CID), Email, Letter, Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate, Physical (non-death)), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault
Oct. 30, 2009 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6174
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 134 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
June 03, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 6210
A letter from the House of Representatives to President George W. Bush informing him of their determination to investigate the prison abuses at Abu Gharib and elsewhere and to request his assistance in obtaining key documents. The letter includes ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Letter
Henry A. Waxman
George W. Bush
Henry A. Waxman, John Conyers, Jr.
Dec. 21, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 6230
A letter from a U.S. senator to the FBI requesting documents regarding interrogation of enemy detainees.
Oct. 30, 2009
Letter
Valerie E. Caproni
Oct. 02, 2009 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6169
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 531 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
Aug. 31, 2006 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4553

An OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzing whether certain conditions of confinement used by the CIA in covert overseas facilities are consistent with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.  The conditions are: (1) ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury
Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
Aug. 23, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4555

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation
Nov. 06, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4556

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee.  It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation
Nov. 07, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4557

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique … ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation