WNBA star and Olympic athlete, Brittney Griner, reveals her personal experience of feeling like a political pawn in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In her heartfelt account, she discloses how she was arrested and imprisoned shortly before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In her memoir “Coming Home,” released on Tuesday and already a best-seller on Amazon, the Phoenix Mercury star opens up about the circumstances that led to her arrest, the difficulties she faced during her nearly 10-month detention in Russia’s infamous penal colonies, the excruciating wait for her release, and much more. Spanning 300 pages, the book offers a detailed account of her time as a Black gay woman in a Russian prison under the reign of Putin.
“Black lives matter,” Griner expressed. “We often hear this phrase being chanted on the streets, but have we truly considered the value placed on a Black life? Looking back at our history, it seems that the worth of a Black life has been undermined, and it becomes even lower when you add being gay to the equation. In Putin’s eyes, I was nothing more than a pawn. My arrest provided him with leverage in his ongoing conflict with the West. He was well acquainted with America’s deeply rooted racial tensions and skillfully exploited them to his advantage.”
In February 2022, Griner embarked on a journey to Russia for her eighth season in the country’s women’s basketball league. However, her trip took a turn for the worse when she was apprehended at the Moscow airport. The authorities discovered two vials of cannabis oil in her luggage, with a total weight of less than a gram. Despite pleading guilty to the drug charges, Griner received a harsh sentence of nine years in prison.
Griner expressed her distress over the disappointment she caused her tightly-knit family and the Black community as a whole.
Griner expressed her emotions when the news of her arrest became public. She tearfully admitted feeling a deep sense of disappointment in herself for letting down her father. The Griner name, once respected, was now tarnished with labels such as “dopehead,” “drug dealer,” and “dumb.” She felt immense pain because she realized that her actions had given the world ammunition to reinforce negative stereotypes. As a Black individual, Griner understood that her behavior had far-reaching consequences, impacting not only herself but also her entire community.
Griner expressed her pride in embracing her Blackness, but she also admitted that her actions had brought shame upon her community.
“Being Black doesn’t diminish your worth, but it does heavily influence your experiences,” she expressed. “Your race becomes apparent as soon as you enter a room. It affects every conversation, molds how others perceive you, and even determines whether your voice is heard. From the moment you step into this world, your Blackness casts a shadow over everything, from intrusive comments about your hair (‘Can I touch it?’) to the assumption that some Black individuals are only ‘smart’ (as if we’re all unintelligent). The underlying message is unmistakable: You don’t belong, you are inferior.”
When Griner finally had the opportunity to take a shower, she was appalled by the deplorable conditions. However, she understood the importance of cleansing herself and decided to step into the water.
“In the WNBA, my teammates and I used to make jokes about the prison showers – a large space with scattered spouts. But this was no joke. It was a grim reality,” she shared. “The sight was revolting – exposed pipes lining the walls, long strands of hair littered across the tiled floor, and a bloody tampon wedged between two pipes. As disgusted as I was by the scene, I was equally repulsed by the odor that engulfed me.”
Located approximately 50 miles from Moscow, Correctional Colony No. 1, also known as IK-1, was once an orphanage that has been repurposed into a prison. The journey to the prison took around two hours due to Russia’s infamous traffic, during which Griner was handcuffed and had to squeeze her 6-foot-9 frame into a vehicle not designed for someone of her height. Throughout the journey, she was filled with fear, unsure of what awaited her at the destination, but fully aware that it was a place no one would willingly choose to be.
Upon arrival, she was bombarded with a plethora of instructions that she had to follow before she could even think about taking a shower.
“I quickly removed my clothes and searched for the least dirty area on the floor,” she recalled. “As I turned the faucet, a stream of rusty brown water forcefully gushed out.”
After adjusting to the unconventional color, the hot water embraced her skin with a comforting sensation. She shut her eyes tightly, yearning to escape her surroundings. Thoughts of her beloved wife, Relle, and the comfort of home flooded her mind, along with the memories of everything she had left behind. As the water cascaded down from her dreads and splashed onto the floor, it seemed to wash away the torment she had endured. She lingered in the shower for a solid thirty minutes, until she finally knocked on the door, signaling the guard to let her out. Reflecting on the experience, she acknowledged that it was both the most unpleasant and the most gratifying shower she had ever taken.
“When I stepped into IK-2, a switch flipped in my mind. I reminded myself that I was now an inmate.”
She spent the entire day working, making military uniforms, shoveling snow, and breaking up ice.
During my time at IK-2, I experienced incredible hardships that tested my resilience. I found myself in a state of frozen despair, battling sickness and undergoing a drastic change in appearance with my hair being forcefully cut off. The person I once was seemed to be nothing more than a pile of dreadlocks on a cold, unforgiving concrete floor. However, it was in the midst of this harsh winter at a labor camp in Russia that I discovered my true strength and determination.
Battered and resilient, she emerged from the challenging experience with bouts of depression, accompanied by prolonged periods of silence and heartache. However, amidst the darkness, she found solace in the uplifting letters sent by her loved ones and even strangers. These messages of support served as a source of strength, helping her navigate through the harsh realities of incarceration. Since her return to the United States, she has resumed playing for the Mercury and has sought guidance from a therapist to aid in her healing process.
“I didn’t hide my private parts, and I didn’t show any fear or weakness,” she expressed. “I could tell that they were anticipating my breakdown… but I remained strong. Although I wanted to cry, I couldn’t shed a single tear.”
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