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Brittney Griner may face racism, homophobia, and 16-hour workdays if the basketball star isn’t released from the Russian prison where she is being held. According to The Nation, prisoners of the IK-2 penal colony in Mordovia, Russia are barely treated like human beings, beatings and torture are “common,” and medical care “hardly exists.”
Prisoners are allegedly given jobs that include sewing police and army guard uniforms.
According to TMZ, musician Nadya Tolokonnikova, founder of the feminist group Pussy Riot, spent two years in Mordovia and described the prison as “hell.”
Griner’s camp, however, has tried to remain positive about her fate and issued a statement saying that the basketball star is “doing as well as could be expected.”
Despite the fact she is alone and now nearing her ninth month in detention separated from her loved ones, she is trying to stay strong.
Despite the solemn circumstances, Griner’s team, aided by the US, has worked diligently toward her potential release. The US has put forth the proposal of a “prisoner swap” which would include the release of convicted Russian weapons trafficker, Viktor Bout, currently imprisoned in the US. According to The Guardian, the US is awaiting a “serious response” from the Russian government.
Elizabeth Rood, the US chargée d’affaires in Moscow, revealed that although discussions between the US and Russia have been ongoing, Russia has yet to “seriously engage.”
The United States, as we have said, has put a significant proposal on the table. We have followed up on that proposal and we have proposed alternatives.
Unfortunately, so far the Russian Federation has not provided a serious response to those proposals.
As The Shade Room has previously reported, Griner was sentenced to serve nine years in prison for attempted drug smuggling and possession. A sentence her lawyer says is “an unprecedented punishment.”
