The Russian penal colony where Brittney Griner is serving her 9-year sentence is said to be one of the toughest prison institutions in the country, with “slave-like conditions” that are bound to become a nightmare of “daily torture” for the WNBA star, per a new report. Brittney was transferred to the facility in Yavas last week, where inmates are known to spend their days doing labor and are kept in barracks as opposed to separate cells.
In an interview with MSNBC this week, Russian musician and activist Nadya Tolokonnikov, who spent two years in a nearby penal colony in 2012 for mocking President Vladimir Putin’s relationship with Russia’s Orthodox Church, says she’s worried for Brittney and the challenges she’s ultimately going to be faced with at the camp. “I’m terrified that Brittney Griner was moved to IK-2,” she said.
How many days has Brittney Griner been detained in Russia? We’re counting. https://t.co/OWegNybbBk pic.twitter.com/cehQ2UdwQB
— Free Brittney Griner (@Free__BG) November 24, 2022
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”It’s one of the harshest colonies — it is literally the harshest colony in the whole Russian prison system. 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.” Nadya asserts that it’s not uncommon for women to be overworked by forcing them to commit to 17 hours of labor a day with little to no breaks.
The singer continued by mentioning that Brittney will more than likely be given a set of tasks to perform each day, with a certain quota she will be expected to complete — but if she fails to comply or can’t meet up to expectations, the basketball player could be dealt with severe consequences.
What’s more, Nadya — who speaks from her own experience inside a penal colony — shared that there are moments when inmates become so overwhelmed (physically and emotionally) that the stress of the labor work can easily lead someone to commit suicide. It’s not just the workload but the punishments that are just as severe as the things that are expected of the inmates, who are rarely given any days off.
We need to do a trade deal and give Russia them MFs that was on vacation with Shanquella for Brittney Griner
— Ya Girl Ming (@QtrWaterClassic) November 24, 2022
Medical help usually goes unanswered, per Nadya, and even if an inmate complains about the torturous behavior from guards, she continued that “obviously, they do not see anything and are not witnesses of your torture. Her comments heavily insinuated that the women locked up at the colony usually have to suck it up and find the strength to keep going, regardless of how hard the labor work may be.
But there’s still hope. Since Brittney is a public figure with a huge amount of support behind her from her fans and family, she’s also being backed by political figures such as President Biden. Nadya believes that penal colony officials will usually refrain from torturing public figures because of their celebrity status, but that doesn’t rule out that Brittney’s experience could very well end up being similar to what Nadya had endured.