Torture In Prisons

Torture is defined as the action of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something. The Central Intelligence Agency put in place “advanced interrogation techniques” under the Bush Administration after the occurrence of 9/11. These techniques can easily be viewed as a form of torture. A citizen of the United States often agrees with the CIA’s interrogation techniques, however, one is often under assumption that the CIA has the right detainee in prison, the detainee has the vital information to give regarding terrorist plots, and that the interrogation is under strict regulation and not out of control. This is not the case. In reality, innocent people are tortured, the information gained are lies, and
the torture under almost no regulations and is mostly kept secret. The advanced interrogation techniques remain to be the most unethical, inhumane, ineffective, and horrendous practices ever put in place under the United States law. The most popular and controversial interrogation techniques include, but are not limited to: waterboarding, extreme sleep deprivation, prolonged standing, sexual humiliation, physical and psychological abuse, sensory disorientation, and rectal feeding. The public is purposely left uneducated about the extent of these techniques. An average US citizen can usually define what waterboarding is. This is where a rag is used to gag a detainee and water is then poured into the detainee’s mouth to simulate drowning. Waterboarding has caused detainees to have bubbles gurgling from their mouths and sometimes becoming completely unresponsive. However, the average US citizen does not understand detainees also face a wide variety of other forms of torture. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11, was forced to go without sleep for 180 hours, more than a week. A common result of sleep deprivation is hallucinations, which as a result, can easily alter the information the CIA is trying to obtain from the terrorist. During the sleep deprivation process detainees are either hung or shackled in upright stress positions in order to keep them awake, this is called prolonged standing. For example, one detainee was forced to stand for 17 consecutive days. Prolonged standing frequently results in anywhere from acute to severe injury. In addition to these practices, the most bizarre CIA interrogation technique remains to be rectal feeding. This is where an enema is forcefully inserted into a detainee for ‘nutritional’ purposes. The CIA has stated this was to keep prisoners alive who otherwise refused to eat. However, the Senate committee has never discovered a reason for why rectal feeding would be a medical necessity. On the contrary, the Senate did discover chief of interrogations at the COBALT facility characterized rectal feeding as a way to gain ‘total control’ over detainees, using the medical purpose as an excuse. If the public clearly understood what the Central Intelligence Agency had done to detainees, public opinion would drastically alter regarding the subject.
Correspondingly, The Central Intelligence Agency argues the advanced interrogation techniques lead to gaining vital information that prevented terrorist attacks and lead to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. The CIA claims Khalid Shaikh Muhammad gave information about a plot to attack the Liberty Tower in Los Angeles. Contrastingly, this information is not supported. This occurred in 2002, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Khalid Shaikh Muhammad was far too busy evading capture from Pakistan to be capable to plot a second terrorist attack. Moreover, the scientific community has never established that CIA’s advanced interrogation techniques are an effective means of obtaining reliable intelligence information. Additionally, some people who have practiced these interrogations believe the practice is not useful. A senior CIA official said that waterboarding appeared counterproductive. This is due to terrorists often spitting out multiple lies in attempt to get the torture to cease. Furthermore, the Central Intelligence Agency has gone to an extent to cover up the extremity of the interrogations done. The cover ups went as far as misleading the public, Congress, and even the White House. The interrogation techniques by the CIA were put into place in the Patriot Act shortly after 9/11, however, President George W. Bush knew about the techniques; the CIA didn’t give him a full briefing until 2006. The CIA had stated that fewer than one hundred prisoners were held at black site facilities; the Senate committee found that, in actuality, at least 119 individuals were detained by the intelligence agency.This is an attempt to disguise the numbers to convince the public and Congress that not many people are subject to torture. The Senate committee also found that 26 of the 119 detainees were held by the CIA did not meeting the standards for detention, this applies to more than one in five detainees at the facility. With over twenty percent of detainees not meeting standards of detention, the CIA is holding innocent civilians captive and ruthlessly torturing them. The Obama Administration banned the CIA’s torture not long after Obama took office. However, secret emails from FBI agents at Guantanamo warn FBI headquarters that prisoners are being tortured, even after the Obama Administration deemed torture unethical and inhumane. This shows the Central Intelligence Agency is breaking federal law and remains unpunished for the crimes. Additionally, black sites are secret prisons the CIA maintained and where the interrogation techniques were performed.
The most famous sites are Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and the Salt Pit, also known as COBALT, in Afghanistan. The most sadistic site often is considered to be the Salt Pit. Lights within the prison were never turned on and prisoners were forced to be naked almost at all times. Prisoners were extremely traumatized by the torture at the Salt Pit, often cowering like dogs when their cell doors were opened. A detainee, Gul Rahman, was tortured to death. Rahman’s clothing was ordered to be removed and then Rahman was forcefully shackled to a cold concrete wall. The next day, Rahman was found lifeless. A medical officer conducted an autopsy and iterated the cause of death was hypothermia. On the contrary, the medical report itself said Rahman’s death was undetermined. The Abu Ghraib prison is eerily similar, however, Abu Ghraib was shut down for the Central Intelligence Agency’s violation of basic human rights. The human rights violations at Abu Ghraib include torture, physical and sexual abuse, rape, and murder. Sergeant Javal Davis, who worked at Abu Ghraib, illustrated the prison as, “‘The encampment they were in when we saw it at first looked like one of those Hitler things, like a concentration camp, almost. It was just disgusting. You didn’t want to touch anything. Whatever the worst thing that comes to your mind, that was it.’” (Gourevitch 1). After Abu Ghraib was shut down eleven soldiers were charged with maltreatment, aggravated assault, and battery. The pattern of torture in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan is disturbing. If one of these prisons arose in the United States, the torture by the CIA would be deemed inhumane and unconstitutional in a matter of
days. The Central Intelligence Agency has committed crimes against humanity and for disobeying the Obama Administration and remains unpunished for those actions.Torture is internationally illegal and the CIA’s advanced interrogation techniques are no exception. The CIA is an embarrassment for American government because they cannot even obey their own laws.