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Brittney Griner Is Facing Hell In Penal Conlony: ‘Beatings, Torture, Racism And Homophobia’

Earlier this month, we reported that Brittney Griner, whose 9-year sentence was uphold in a Russian appeal court, was transferred to a Russian penal colony. This meant that her family and lawyers didn’t know where she was or where she was heading. 

According to Griner’s lawyers, the transfer happened a day after U.S. embassy officials visited her and far ahead of the schedule they had anticipated, as a transfer usually takes months

10 days later, it was revealed that Griner has been taken to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia.

Now, some new uneasy news have come to surface. According to The Nation’s Dave Zirin, prisoners in Mordovia, where Griner was taken to, are barely treated like humans.

Per The Nation:

The penal colony is notoriously racist and homophobic, which makes Griner’s fate anyone’s guess.

More details about life in these prisons have emerged, and they are chilling. Nadya Tolokonnikova of the band/social action collective Pussy Riot spent two years in Mordovia, and she told MSNBC that it is a labor camp where prisoners are expected to work 16 hours a day. “Beatings and torture” are common, she said. Medical care hardly exists. And, in an awful twist, their jobs are to sew police army and guard uniforms, literally darning the clothes of their jailers. International observers have no idea about Griner’s particular conditions, or even if her bed can fit her six-foot-eight-inch frame.