Torture is often thought of as something that happened in years gone by or only during war-time but the fact of the matter is torture is still alive and well today, though the methods may have changed from being a physical brutality to something more psychological there is no doubt as to how damaging some of these methods can be.
The worst part is many torture methods active today are government sanctioned, or at the very least never prosecuted.
Modern torture is often now a mix of the physical and the psychological, combining the two to truly destroy a person.
Water boarding.
Probably one of the most well known modern torture methods, water boarding has been used by the CIA, DOD and other government agencies around the world. Designed to make a person feel like they are drowning a wet cloth is placed over the face and they are strapped to a board tilted so their feet are elevated above the head, they then have buckets or jugs of water poured over the cloth which creates the sensation of drowning.
source
Water boarding is considered one of the CIA's "enhanced interrogation methods and has been used on prisoners from Guantanamo bay, Abu Gharib and other "dark sites". Although the CIA has only admitted to using this technique on three people ( the apparent perpetrators of 9/11) there is much evidence on the contrary. When presented with evidence that it had clearly been used in CIA sites where they claimed it had not they were unable to come up with any answer.
source
One of the CIA detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times, which a senate inquiry said escalated into a series of "near drownings". Another detainee was recorded as being waterboarded to the point he was completely unresponsive with bubbles rising through his open full mouth.
Cold cells
Another technique utilized by the CIA named cold cells is essentially when a prisoner is locked in a cell with the air-conditioning turned on full for an extended period of time, in some cases weeks or even months. In the most extreme reported case of this a captured Viet-Cong officer was put into a tiny, white, windowless room and had the air-con turned on him for a full 4 years.
source
Another version of the cold cell is when a prisoner is doused in water and then left in an air-conditioned room, as was the case in the first reported use of a cold cell from 1961, when guards at Parchman Mississippi’s state penitentiary doused detained civil rights activists with fire hoses and then turned the air conditioning system on full blast for three days.
White torture or sensory deprivation
White torture is pretty much how it sounds, the victim or detainee is locked in a room that is entirely white with no windows, they are fed only white food e.g rice, on white plates and guards will often wear padded footwear to muffle sound as well.
Sometimes a spotlight or bright lights are shone from above to exaggerate the "whiteness".
I dunno about you but just looking at that picture makes my eyes hurt a little. This sensory deprivation can go on for days, weeks and even months at a time and while it may seem fairly tame spending so long in sensory deprivation could easily send a person insane.
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is another commonly used modern torture technique and is another of the CIA favorites. During Sleep deprivation the detainee is kept awake for anywhere up to 180 hours at a time or over a week, often used in conjunction with stress positions (being forced to stand/sit/squat in a particular way) or having your hands shackled above your head. While it again, may seem tame in comparison to some torture methods, sleep deprivation is an attack on the entire biological system of a person.
source
Whilst some of the short-term effects aren't inherently dangerous, progressive sleep deprivation can easily lead to death. Oftentimes sleep deprivation is used as a way to coerce a confession or information from a prisoner rather than to actually inflict pain, i suppose the pain or distress is just a nice by-product for the perpetrators. Problem with this is one of the first symptoms of sleep deprivation is a disordering of thought and bursts of irrationality. "Beyond 24 hours of deprivation people suffer huge drops in cognitive functions like accurate memory, coherent speech, and social competence. Eventually the victims suffer hallucinations and a total break with reality. "
Sound torture/Music torture
Music torture is often used as a way of keeping people awake (see sleep deprivation above) however simply the playing of one song over and over can be enough to break some people. Ever heard a song on the radio like say ohh, Justin Bieber - Despacito comes to mind for me, and just absolutely hated it, could not stand it and had to turn it off because it had been played so often? Well music torture is kind of like that.
source
Music torture has been around since the 50's and 60's and is either the playing of a song on a continuous loop or even simply just loud noises played over and over. Some of the CIA's favorite songs to use as torture were Eminem - The real slim shady (one man saying he was forced to listen to it non-stop for 20 days)
Christina Aguilera - Dirty
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful people
Barney theme song - I love you
Queen - We are the champions
While not necessarily bad songs, being forced to listen to them in odd cycles, repeated over and over or on full volume constantly would be enough to send anyone insane.
Torture may no longer be quite as simple as cutting off a hand, or electrocuting someone (though those things still occur) but it is evolving as time goes on. A lot of these techniques were devised as a way of torturing people without seeming outwardly cruel, as a way of preventing public outcry.
We have a long way to go before torture is gone from society and no matter how much certain agencies try to promote its use as interrogation techniques none of them have shown to have a high level of effectiveness, if any effectiveness at all.
If you like what i post please upvote follow or even resteem.
Steem on Steemians.
Resources
https://listverse.com/2013/10/19/10-gruesome-torture-devices-used-in-modern-times/
http://list25.com/25-disturbing-modern-torture-methods/5/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-most-gruesome-moments-in-the-cia-torture-report
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dreaming-in-the-digital-age/201412/why-sleep-deprivation-is-torture
https://mic.com/articles/87851/11-popular-songs-the-cia-used-to-torture-prisoners-in-the-war-on-terror#.ERLH3QdIl