Is It Torture or Not?

In light of all of the torture discussions going on around the internet, I thought I would post up this scenario to see what people think about it in regards to Catholic moral theology. This is a specific scenario that falls into the rare category, but this is what moral theologians discuss in regards to Church teaching. The scenario is very specific, so lets plug it in and see if it the action would be morally licit or not according to Church teaching. For the record, my intent is not justify any specific government operation.

Scenario,

Joe is pulled over by highway patrolman. The officer finds that he has a girl in the car with him that has recently gone missing. They take Joe to the police station where Joe admits to the state authorities that he has kidnapped several girls, and he admits that he has another girl in an undisclosed location who is locked in a closet with no access to food and water. Can the state authorities withhold food and water from Joe, until Joe decides to tell where he has the other girl? Does this action fall into the states right and duty to protect its citizens from violent criminals? Is it immoral to take a proportionate action against Joe to stop his violent crime? Would the Church classify this as torture? If anyone can answer that question in a rational, Thomistic style reply, it would be most appreciated.

Notice there are a couple of known facts that make this scenario completely different from the usual ticking time bomb scenario.

1. We know for a fact that Joe is guilty.
2. We know that there is a violent crime still being carried out by Joe.