prisoner abuse
physical or psychological harm perpetrated on an incarcerated individual by those in authority over him or her. Such abuse may include sleep deprivation; refusal of health care; threatened harm to family members; beatings, torture, and other forms of violent coercion; sexual abuse and humiliation; and “enhanced” interrogation techniques utilizing coercive means to extract information from a prisoner or detainee. Particularly since the events in 2003 and 2004 at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, where American military guards used harsh interrogation methods on Iraqi prisoners, there has been debate about the role of psychologists in military-run interrogations of prisoners or detainees (including those at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba). In 2007, the American Psychological Association issued a statement specifically prohibiting psychologists from participating in 19 interrogation techniques (e.g., waterboarding, forced nudity) and asserting that no psychologist should be either
directly or indirectly involved in treatment of prisoners that could lead to their physical or psychological harm.