Brittney Griner is still striving to get back into her routine since her release from a Russian prison 17 months ago.
The 6-foot-9 center WNBA All-Star’s life has changed from how we used to see her, including the loss of her dreadlocks, which she was unable to keep up with during her imprisonment.
Griner has been an advocate for the repatriation of other American detainees abroad following her release and has since had two meetings with President Joe Biden.
In February 2022, Brittney was arrested at an airport in Moscow. Following a search of her luggage, Russian investigators claimed to have found vape cartridges carrying cannabis oil.
With the release of her new book, Coming Home, this May, Brittney has chosen to share details about her terrifying ordeal.
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In a recent interview, Brittney Griner detailed the severe conditions of the prison that drove her to consider suicide.
“After spending ten months in prison in Russia, I felt less than human,” the player for the Phoenix Mercury told ABC News’s Robin Roberts.
She had to use one of her torn-up T-shirts as toilet paper because the toilet in her prison cell was just a hole in the ground. She pointed to Roberts a pair of extra-long pants her cellmate had custom-made for her since she was so cold and complained that her bed and uniform were way too tiny for her 6-foot-9-inch stature.
The basketball player claimed that after being sent to another correctional colony, her situation worsened.
She said that the “dirt and grime” and “bloodstains” in her cell were there and that she was given toothpaste that was 15 years old, fed porridge “that was more like cement,” and only granted one roll of toilet paper per month.
She remembered that she was frequently left outside for hours at a time during the icy Russian winter. She claimed that spiders made a nest in her hair and that her locs froze.
“I didn’t think I could get through what I needed to get through,” Griner remarked. She also mentioned that she thought of ending her life but was afraid the Russian government wouldn’t give her body back to her relatives.
“I am unable to subject children to that. I’ve got to put up with this,” she remembered thinking.
Despite very lucrative basketball chances in Russia that exceed WNBA compensation, Brittney Griner said that she will no longer play overseas. However, this summer she will make an exception to compete in the Olympics in Paris.
“It would be the cherry on top to be able to go and represent that same country and bring home gold—I mean, the country that literally came and saved me and gave me back my life,” said Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist.
Brittney Griner received a nine-year term for narcotics possession, but the United States was able to negotiate her release in an unusual prisoner swap.
