Brittney Griner Opens Up About Her Darkest Days Behind Bars in Russia

The chilling reality of life in a Russian prison left WNBA star Brittney Griner gripped by fear and sleepless nights, as she shared in a gripping conversation on Cam Newton’s podcast. On July 19, 2025, Griner opened up about her nearly 10-month detention in 2022, revealing the psychological toll of being housed with dangerous inmates in a system that offered no safety or separation. Her raw account paints a haunting picture of survival under unimaginable conditions, demanding attention to her story of resilience.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Phoenix Mercury star, described the unsettling experience of sharing a cell with a woman convicted of a disturbing crime.

“One time I was in this room with this one chick and they don’t, there’s no lights there. They don’t separate people. There’s no segregation,”

She said, explaining the prison’s chaotic environment. She noted the lack of distinction between inmates, stating,

“There’s no like crimes, you know, like, yeah. So you don’t know if you in there with a murderer.”

Griner confirmed the severity of offenses around her, saying,

“Basically everybody in for either murder or drugs over there. Like that’s like they two number two things like it’s murder and drugs.”

Her cellmate’s behavior and appearance added to her unease.

“I had a cellmate in the very beginning. I mean, I thought something was off with her,”

Griner recalled.

“She acted like a child, but she was like grown woman. Like, but she very much acted like an adolescent child. And then she had like burn marks all over herself.”

Later, Griner learned the horrifying reason for her cellmate’s imprisonment:

“I found out after the fact that she was selling videos online of her husband and her child together.”

The cellmate’s burn marks were the result of torture by other inmates, a practice Griner said was rare but targeted.

“There’s not a lot of torturing from inmates with girls like on the women’s side. But if you in there for something like that, yeah, you getting, you’re going to get tortured and they would put their cigarettes out on her and make her sleep at the door too,”

Griner explained.

This revelation fueled Griner’s frustration and fear of being misjudged.

“I was mad when I found out about it because I’m just like not knowing that they don’t separate people,”

She said.

“I’m like, well, I don’t want them to think that I’m in here. I don’t associate me with that one.”

The cellmate’s nighttime behavior compounded Griner’s distress.

“I didn’t really sleep at night because she’d be over there singing and doing weird stuff at night, so I’m just like not even sleeping at first,”

She shared, highlighting the psychological strain of her environment.

Griner’s detention began in February 2022 at a Moscow airport, where authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, leading to a drug smuggling conviction and a nine-year sentence. She was released in December 2022 through a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Her ordeal, detailed in her memoir Coming Home, included harsh conditions like sleeping on a blood-stained mattress and cutting her dreadlocks due to freezing temperatures. The fear of being a political pawn during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed her to consider suicide early in her detention.

In the penal colony, Griner endured grueling labor and a lack of basic necessities like soap and toilet paper, which she said made her feel “less than human.” Her discussion on Newton’s podcast, likely Funky Friday with Cam Newton, marks one of her most detailed accounts yet, resonating with fans on platforms like X. Posts on July 19, 2025, praised her courage, with users lauding her for “speaking her truth” about the trauma that lingers as she advocates for others, including Evan Gershkovich.