*According to a University of Texas professor, Brittney Griner’s life inside a Russian penal colony will be hell on earth.
“Her life will be very difficult,” said Marina Alexandrova, who lectures on the history of Russian prisons at the university, Fox News reports via MSN. “It will be terrible.”
Griner is detained at the IK-2 penal colony, where she will spend the next 9 years after being convicted in the country on drug smuggling charges. After she was recently moved to Mordovia, a prison city in Russia, the family, friends, and teammates of the WNBA star have allegedly not heard from her since.
We reported previously, via The Neighborhood, that The Nation’s reporter Dave Zirin has investigated the community Brittney has moved to, and the details are very distributing. Zirin says that bigotry and homophobia are very common practices in Mordovia, just cruel overall. Zirin claims he wouldn’t be surprised if Griner didn’t even have a bed that should fit her 6’8 frame. Zirin also spoke with a former prisoner of Mordovia, and they claimed it was like hell on Earth.
READ MORE: Brittney Griner’s Dealing with ‘Horrid’ Conditions, Homophobia, Racism & 16 Hr Workdays
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According to The Neighborhood report, whoopings and beatings are common and most prisoners are expected to work 16 hours a day with barely any breaks. Per MSN, the IK-2 penal colony is located about 300 miles southeast of Moscow, in the isolated republic of Mordovia where it can freezing cold temperatures tend to be year-round.
Here’s more from the outlet:
Long days are spent in forced labor, working at sewing machines, with only a short break for lunch. By nightfall, prisoners are fed dinner and allowed an hour or less of free time before going to sleep in dormitories crowded with scores of bunk beds. The routine reportedly can stretch for weeks on end with no days off.
Among Russia’s hundreds of prisons, the 21 facilities clustered in Mordovia are especially notorious. Russia Behind Bars, a humanitarian group based in Moscow, alleges that labor conditions at the IK-2 violate national law, medical care is limited and substandard food provides little sustenance, especially during long, cold winters.
It is unlikely that Griner will receive special treatment.
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