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"The Mattress Had A Huge Blood Stain," And 11 Other Shocking Details Revealed In Brittney Griner's Newest Interview About Her Time In A Russian Prison
Two years ago, WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested and detained in a Russian prison after airport authorities found cannabis cartridges in her luggage.
Griner said she had a pain prescription for cannabis due to years of sports injuries that left her constantly sore.
Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.
Thankfully, after nine months, the Biden administration negotiated Griner's release from Russia through a highly controversial prisoner swap agreement.
Recently, Griner gave an exclusive interview to ABC News 20/20 detailing her traumatic experience as an American prisoner in Russia.
Here are the 12 most shocking revelations we learned:
1.Russia's invasion of Ukraine occurred one week into Griner's detainment.
"When I found out that the invasion happened, I literally thought I was never coming home," Griner said.
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.
"I had a couple of shirts, a couple pairs of sweats, and the shoes on my feet. One of the shirts, I ripped it up and used one to clean myself, and used one as toilet paper...that was the moment that I just felt the dirtiest and, like, less than a human," Griner said.
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.
Griner described the prison conditions: "Mornings, we're going to have really thick porridge, but it's not really porridge; it's more like cement because it's really thick and hard. Dinner, we get a little piece of fish with nothing but bones in it. I didn't fit anything in there. The mattress had a huge blood stain on it. And they give you these thin two sheets, so you're basically laying on bars. The middle of my shin to my feet stuck through the bars, which, in prison, you don't really wanna stick your leg and arm through bars because someone can go up and grab it, break it, twist it, and that's what was going through my mind," Griner said.
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 mold to kill the mold on the walls," Griner said.
5.Griner described being left outside for hours by guards during snowy blizzards.
"Those days were the toughest because it's like, 'Yo, come get us,' we're yelling, we're screaming, we're rattling the bars, like get us in."
6.After her sentencing, Griner was sent to an IK-2 penal colony, described as "one of the worst prisons in Russia," where her job was to cut fabric for Russian military uniforms.
"It's a work camp. You go there to work; there's no rest," Griner said. "There were about 50–60 women in my room, one bathroom, three toilets, no hot water."
7.Griner befriended her cellmate, who translated everything for her.
"I wouldn't have made it without Alana," Griner said.
8.While in IK-2, Griner said she cut her hair because it was freezing in the Russian cold, causing her to get sick.
"My dreads started to freeze. They would just stay wet and cold, and I was getting sick. You got to do what you got to do to survive."
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.
"I didn't want to do it, but at the same time, I want to come home," Griner said.
10.Griner said she was forced to take staged prison photos to show that the Russian prison system had "reformed" her.
"They wanted it to look like I was doing what I needed to do, that their system worked," Griner said.
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 checked into my cell, and I'm there for a couple of days." Griner described a note being slipped to her that read: "Be ready to leave."
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.
"It felt like I was touching death... He actually spoke to me first and said, 'Congrats on going home,' and he wished me well, and I said the same to him, too," Griner said.
Since her homecoming, Griner has returned to the WNBA and is currently playing for the Phoenix Mercury.
Griner has also continued advocating for the release of other Americans who are wrongfully detained in Russia.
You can watch Brittney Griner’s full 20/20 interview on Hulu here.
