CIA agents have anonymously confirmed to the Washington Post in a December 26, 2002 report that the CIA routinely uses so-called "stress and duress" interrogation techniques, which are claimed by human rights activists to be acts of torture, in the US-led war on terrorism. These sources state that CIA and military personnel beat up uncooperative suspects, confine them in cramped quarters, duct tape them to stretchers, and use other restraints which maintain the subject in an awkward and painful position for long periods of time. The phrase 'torture light' has been reported in the media and has been taken to mean acts that would not be legally defined as torture but where the intent of the person committing the act is the same.
The Post article continues that sensory deprivation, through the use of hoods and spraypainted goggles, sleep deprivation, and selective use of painkillers for at least one captive who was shot in the groin during his apprehension are also used. The agents also indicate in the report that the CIA as a matter of course hands suspects over to foreign intelligence services with far fewer qualms about torture for more intensive interrogation.
The mere act of handing somebody to another organisation or country where it is foreseeable that torture would occur is regarded as a violation of the Torture Convention. The Post reported that one US official said, "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job." The US Government denies that torture is being conducted in the detention camps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture Sensory deprivation
Sensory deprivation is the reduction of sensory input into the human system, whether naturally occurring or induced. Simple artificial systems can reduce visual and auditory input while more complex designs can also reduce olfactory, tactile, thermoceptive, gustative and 'gravitational' sensations. Sensory deprivation has been used in various alternative medicines, for torture or punishment, and in psychological experimentation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivation