(a) In general

No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

(b) Construction

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Terms Used In 42 USC 2000dd

  • individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8

Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose any geographical limitation on the applicability of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under this section.

(c) Limitation on supersedure

The provisions of this section shall not be superseded, except by a provision of law enacted after December 30, 2005, which specifically repeals, modifies, or supersedes the provisions of this section.

(d) Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment defined

In this section, the term “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.