Solz on torture by sleep deprivation

It is depressing that the U.S. Government does not consider sleep deprivation of enemy combatants a form of torture. Perhaps they should read The Gulag Archipelago.

Sleeplessness was a great form of torture: it left no visible marks and could not provide grounds for complaint even if an inspection - something- unherad of anyway- were to strike on the morrow.

"They didn't let you sleep? Well, after all, this is not supposed to be a vacation resort. The Security officials were awake too!" (They would catch up on ther sleep during the day.) One can say that sleeplessness became the universal method in the Organs. From being one among many tortures, it became an integral part of the system of State Security; it was the cheapest possible method and did not requre the posting of sentries. In all the interrogation prisons the prisoners were forbidden to sleep even one minute from reveille till taps. (In Sukhanovka and several other prisons used specifically for interrogation, the cot was folded into the wall during the day; in others, the prisoners were simply forbidden to lie down, and even close their eyes while seated.) since the mahor interrogations were all conducted at night, it was automatic: whoever was undergoing interrogation got no sleep for at least five days and nights. (Saturdays and Sunday nights, the interrogators themselves tried to get some rest.) [italics Solzhenitsyn's] pp. 112-113, vol. 1, english edition, 1973.