The detention sites were “especially bleak early in the program,” the report said, and included completely dark cells where people were shackled next to a bucket to use for a bathroom and were blasted with loud music and noise. Lack of heat in one center “likely contributed” to the death of at least one detainee.
Detainees were subjected to “rough takedowns,” in which five CIA officers “would scream at a detainee, drag him outside of his cell, cut his clothes off, and secure him with Mylar tape.” The report continued, “The detainee would then be hooded and dragged up and down a long corridor while being slapped and punched.”
This, coupled with extended solitary confinement, inflicted extreme harm on people, including “hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia, and attempts at self-harm and self-mutilation,” the report concluded. “Multiple psychologists identified the lack of human contact experienced by detainees as a cause of psychiatric problems.”
