(Photo Credit: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / POOL / AFP)

Brittney Griner Moved To a Prison Labor Camp in Russia

A Russian court has rejected American basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal of her 9-year sentence for drug possession.

Griner’s legal team is reporting that she has been moved to a penal colony in Russia. Russia’s penal colony system is a network of prison camps in which prisoners are housed in barracks where they must perform labor. Penal colonies are the descendants of Russia’s Soviet-era forced labor camps, known as gulags.

“Brittney was transferred from the detention center in Iksha on the 4th November. She is now on her way to a penal colony. We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” the statement from her legal team said.


White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long. As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony. As we have said before, the U.S. Government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”

Griner was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

During her trial, Griner admitted she had the canisters in her bag, but testified that she had inadvertently packed them in a rush and that she had absolutely no criminal intent when she arrived in Russia. It was noted during her trial that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.