New details have been unearthed on the CIA’s “black site” torture room in a secret prison near Kabul, Afghanistan, thanks to newly unsealed papers the Pentagon and agency were forced to declassify over a lawsuit filed by victims of the “enhanced interrogation.” The prison was made up of 20 cells, where prisoners were often shackled to a ring in the wall. Four of the rooms were instead specifically designed for sleep deprivation and for prisoners to be chained to an overhead bar. “The atmosphere was very good,” the contracted psychologist John Jessen—who designed the techniques used on site—told CIA investigators. “Nasty, but safe.” The closely watched lawsuit against CIA psychologists was unexpectedly settled out-of-court in July.
