Brittney Griner reveals she ‘wanted to take her life more than once’ while detained in Russian prison
Brittney Griner has revealed that she contemplated suicide several times while being held in a Russian prison following her arrest in 2022.
She was released in a 1-for-1 swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022, who has since been criticized for failing to return Paul Whelan, a US Marine jailed in 2018 on espionage charges.
Before she could be released, however, Griner considered killing herself because of the conditions at the Russian detention center, which made her feel “less than human,” she told Robin Roberts on ABC.
“I wanted to end my life more than once in those first weeks,” she said in the sit-down interview on 20/20: Prisoner of Russia. “I was so excited to get out of here.”
Brittney Griner revealed that she contemplated suicide several times while in Russian prison
The WNBA superstar spoke with ABC’s Robin Roberts on 20/20: Prisoner of Russia
“I didn’t think I could get through what I needed to. I’ve definitely thought about it,” she added about contemplating suicide.
“But then I thought, what if they didn’t release my body to my family? And I thought: I can’t do that to them. I have to put up with this.”
Griner’s thoughts of suicide arose as she endured the “filthiest” conditions in her cell.
The basketball superstar described the shocking circumstances, including finding a “large knife” in her cell when she first entered.
“When we walk into the cell, there’s a bathroom. There’s a little rinkity sink that leaks and then just adds a layer of dust, dirt, grime, and blood stains. Just dirty,” she said.
‘I had a few shirts, a few sweaters, the shoes on my feet. I tore one of my shirts and used one to clean myself. I used one as toilet paper. With my dirty, dirty hole in the ground with feces everywhere.
“That was the moment I felt the dirtiest and less than human.”
Griner also revealed that the food the prisoners were fed consisted of cement-like porridge and small pieces of fish “with nothing but bones in them.”
However, the worst experiences occurred when the prisoners were given time outside, she explained.
“You should be outside for 15 minutes,” she said. 15 minutes is sometimes two hours. It’s a snowstorm. It’s cold. It is winter. You are being snowed under.
“And those days were the hardest, because it’s like, ‘Yo, come get us.’ For example, we shout. We shout. You know, we’re rattling the bars of, get us in, get us in.”
More to follow.
For support, call Samaritans on 116123 in the UK or visit www.samaritans.org, or the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on 988 in the US.