Torture victims lie

When someone is being tortured their entire psyche is taken u over by the intensity of the pain they are suffering. They cannot think about anything else. Under these conditions it is impossible to lie because you simply don't have the mental capacity to think up a lie. The only time a subject could give false information is if the torturer suggests something to which they could agree. As long as this is avoided, we can be fairly confident in the information gathered in this way.

An additional side-effect might be that the suspect might own up to any charges brought against them, even if they are not true, just to make the pain stop. There is a historical precedent for this, as during the purges in Stalin’s Russia, many of his political adversaries were tortured and then put on ‘show trials’, where they admitted to crimes that they couldn’t possibly have committed. Not only would this be ineffectual in the ultimate aim of preventing future terror attacks, it is incredibly damaging for the individual and indeed the justice system.