WNBA star Brittney Griner is reportedly being held in a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia.
Nearly two weeks after the U.S. government was notified of Griner’s transfer, a source claimed that she’s currently held at a penal colony about 210 miles east of Moscow.
On November 4th, Griner was transferred from a detention center near Moscow to an undisclosed prison location. However, her legal team confirmed that the basketball star was taken to Female Penal Colony IK-2 in the town of Yavas in the Mordovia region.
“We can confirm that Brittney began serving her sentence at IK-2 in Mordovia. We visited her early this week,” Griner’s lawyers said. “Brittney is doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment.”
Prior to her lawyer’s statement, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said, “We are aware of reports of her location, and in frequent contact with Ms. Griner’s legal team. However, the Russian Federation has still failed to provide any official notification for such a move of a U.S. citizen, which we strongly protest.”
Nevertheless, inmates held in a Russian penal colony are usually required to work long hours for inadequate pay on various difficult manual tasks.
As previously reported, Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison on drug smuggling charges.
