Recent alum Caitlyn A. Tabor, JD, MBE and Katherine Peeler, MD, MA published their article "Sleep Is a Human Right, and Its Deprivation Is Torture" in the October 2024 American Medical Association (AMA) Journal of Ethics. This peer-reviewed article is a deep analysis into the ways in which sleep deprivation occurs in immigration detention centers in the United States and discusses the role of medical professionals in identifying, addressing, and preventing this unjust tactic. Sleep deprivation as a means of coercion and abuse is both a bioethical issue as well as a legal one, as Peeler and Tabor point out that certain gray areas in the legal definitions of what constitutes torture is an important area of collaboration needed to put an end to this practice.

Dr. Caitlyn Tabor, a Senior Fellow in Law and Applied Neuroscience in the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center, is quite familiar with the use of bioethics and law to achieve the protection of human rights. A teaching affiliate at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, she teaches courses on Neuroethics, Ethics and Governance of Digital Privacy, and AI. Dr. Tabor's important discussions of legal cases such as Ireland v UK, LeMaire v Maass, and Huertas v Secretary Pennsylvania Dept. of Corrections in the article highlight the nuances in which sleep deprivation is defined as cruel and unusual punishment when discussed in the legal system. In particular, the differing outcomes of these cases indicate stark discrepancies that, unsurprisingly, allow for the current uses of this torture to be employed today. Sharing her understanding of bioethical issues in law and legislation is only one of the many ways that Dr. Tabor's work in the Center for Bioethics aids the learning of these fellows and students. Understanding the multifaceted nature of bioethical issues supports the eradication of these inhumane actions facing oppressed populations.

Together with Dr. Tabor's legal perspective, Dr. Katherine Peeler, Associate Physician in Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital provides medical expertise on the well-researched physiological and psychological consequences of sleep deprivation. This medical viewpoint helps to inform what legally counts as torture. As mentioned in the article, insufficient quality and quantity of sleep is associated with cardiovascular disease, attention difficulties, learning problems, mental health disorder diagnoses, and a myriad of other health problems in those suffering from sleep deprivation. Dr. Peeler's in-depth understanding of the physiological restorative effects of sleep shed light on the realistic consequences of sleep deprivation torture and are a direct reflection of her health policy work in protecting immigrant rights to health through the Peeler Immigration Lab.

This incredible collaboration between two Center teaching affiliates discusses a litany of issues that are not always covered in the discussion of sleep-related punishment methods. From distinguishing torture as a form of abuse to prosecuting perpetrators of sleep deprivation, Dr. Peeler and Tabor's publication uses historical legal case examples and internationally established organization rulings (such as the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT)) to shed light on this issue in a novel way. With respect to the multidisciplinary nature of their work on the issue, Dr. Peeler and Tabor end their article with an especially memorable call to action: Particularly in light of the subjective nature of mental suffering, the frequent absence of obvious physical evidence, and the purposeful lack of documentation of such evidence by the perpetrators, it is imperative that medical experts bridge the gap between science and the law, testifying to the specific negative effects of sleep deprivation on a given person and thus clarifying thresholds at which maltreatment amounts to torture.