Tortured Justice finds the Bush Administration has undercut its own intended use of the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay by allowing the admission of coerced evidence. The administration sanctioned the use of harsh interrogation methods, claiming that the need to protect the nation against another terrorist attack took precedence over any future complications in prosecuting terrorist suspects. Then, rather than accept the inadmissibility of tainted evidence in court, Congress and the administration dug themselves in deeper by including provisions in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that authorize, for the first time in American history, the admission of coerced confessions during criminal trials.
The report focuses on six Guantanamo prisoners who have alleged abuse while in custody, some of which has been documented by military investigations and detainee interrogation logs, and some of which has been publicly acknowledged by administration officials. The report also includes a chart identifying 62 other prisoners who allege abuse, alongside the names of those they may have implicated. The chart offers a stark visualization of the cross-contamination of coerced evidence.