Brittney Griner is currently serving time at a penal colony, which is described as Russia’s worst. The WNBA star is said to be in a facility that has “slave-like conditions” and “daily torture,” according to a former inmate.
The former inmate, Nadya Tolokonnikova, spoke to MSNBC after previously spending two years in the colony for “hooliganism.”
Griner is housed in female penal colony No. 2, located in Russia’s Mordovia region, for her nine-year sentence for traveling with vape cartridges.
“I’m terrified that Brittney Griner was moved to IK-2,” Tolokonnikova said. “It’s one of the harshest colonies — it is literally the harshest colony in the whole Russian prison system.
“I was protesting terrible conditions in my penal colony. But I know every single chief official who works at IK-2, and I know exactly what human rights abuses they perform on a daily basis and the kind of torture they use against prisoners.”
Griner is expected to perform manual labor like cooking, cleaning, and sewing for up to 17 hours a day without breaks. If you are unable to make those demands, you are subject to torture. Tolokonnikova said she has seen prisoners who are not able to make it and commit suicide.
You can hear it from Tolokonnikova below.
