Administration of Torture is a powerful account of the devastating effects of deviating from longstanding legal prohibitions on the mistreatment of prisoners. Through government documents, Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh bring to light the grim reality of the torture and abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody abroad. This book will serve as a historic reminder of the dangers of curtailing human rights protections in the name of national security."

Administration of Torture is the most detailed account thus far of what took place in America's overseas detention centers. In a narrative essay, Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh draw the connection between the policies adopted by senior civilian and military officials and the torture and abuse that took place on the ground. The book also reproduces hundreds of government documents—including interrogation directives, FBI e-mails, autopsy reports, and investigative files. Records from Guantanamo describe prisoners shackled in excruciating "stress positions," held in freezing-cold cells, forcibly stripped, hooded, terrorized with military dogs, and deprived of human contact for months.Files from Afghanistan and Iraq describe prisoners who had been beaten, kicked, and burned. Autopsy reports attribute the deaths of those in U.S. custody to strangulation, suffocation, and blunt force injuries. The documents constitute both an important historical record and a profound indictment of the Bush administration's policies with respect to the detention and treatment of prisoners in U.S.custody abroad.

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction: Administration of Torture

Timeline of Key Events

Description of the Documents

The Documents