" The mattress had a huge blood soil on it . And they give you these flimsy two sheet , so you ’re basically lay on bar . "
Two years ago,WNBA star Brittney Grinerwas arrested and detained in a Russian prison after airport authorities found cannabis cartridges in her luggage.
Grinerpleaded guiltyto drug charges and was sentenced tonine yearsin a Russian prison.
Thankfully, after nine months, theBiden administrationnegotiated Griner’s release from Russia through a highly controversial prisoner swap agreement.
Recently, Griner gave an exclusive interview toABC News 20/20detailing her traumatic experience as an American prisoner in Russia.
Here are the 12 most shocking revelations we learned:
1.Russia’sinvasion of Ukraineoccurred one week into Griner’s detainment.
2.Griner said she was brought to a Russian police station and put in a seven-by-seven cell that had one bed and a hole in the ground for a toilet.
3.Griner was later transferred to IK-1, a Russian prison, and put into a group cell, where the first thing she said she saw was a large knife left behind by guards.
4.She recalls only being given one roll of toilet paper to last a month, and her toothpaste expired 15 years prior."
" We used to put the [ toothpaste ] on the black mould to shoot down the mold on the walls , " Griner say .
5.Griner described being left outside for hours by guards during snowy blizzards.
6.After her sentencing, Griner was sent to anIK-2 penal colony, described as “one of the worst prisons in Russia,” where her job was to cut fabric for Russian military uniforms.
7.Griner befriended her cellmate, who translated everything for her.
8.While in IK-2, Griner said she cut her hair because it was freezing in the Russian cold, causing her to get sick.
9.After 287 days of detainment, Griner was told she was heading home. Before she left, Griner had to write a letter to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to give thanks and ask for forgiveness.
10.Griner said she was forced to take staged prison photos to show that the Russian prison system had “reformed” her.
11.After being told she was going home, Griner said she was put into a van that dropped her off at a men’s prison, where she was stripped and searched.
" When I get to this prison , I ’m getting processed back in … I get suss out into my cell , and I ’m there for a couple of days . " Griner described a eminence being slipped to her that take : " Be ready to go away . "
12.During the US/Russia prisoner swap, Griner said she shook hands with “The Merchant of Death,” Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer, who had been a prisoner in the US for 25 years.
Since her homecoming, Griner has returned to the WNBA and is currently playing for the Phoenix Mercury.
You can watch Brittney Griner’s full20/20interview on Huluhere.
