Brittney Griner spoke with Robin Roberts on the Wednesday, May 1, episode of ’20/20'
Brittney Griner detailed her time in a Russian prison and her life since being released in a 20/20 interview with Robin Roberts.
She was later transferred to IK1, where she was put in a group cell that contained a knife left behind by a guard after lunch. Griner described her sleeping area as being filled with “dirt, grime and absolute filth,” calling it the “dirtiest” she felt during her nine-month prison stay. As she recalled the harrowing conditions, Griner confessed that it was in her first few weeks in confinement that she considered suicide. “I wanted to take my life so more than once in those first weeks, I felt like leaving here so badly,” she shared while holding back tears. “I didn’t think I could get through what I needed to get through.”
“Conditions were rough in the buildings there were about 50-60 women in my room, one bathroom, three toilets, no hot water and a long farm-style sink where everybody is washing all types of body parts,” Griner recalled, noting that spiders would make nests above her bed — another reason for cutting her hair.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 while she was in the country to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg during her WNBA offseason. Local law enforcement officers claimed that Griner smuggled hash oil cartridges in her luggage and subsequently arrested her. Six months later, Griner stood trial and pleaded guilty but asserted that “there was no intent.” A Russian judge found her guilty in August 2022 and sentenced the athlete to nine years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles.
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