‘I felt like leaving so badly’: Brittney Griner considered suicide in Russian prison

Brittney Griner said she thought about killing herself during her first few weeks in a Russian prison after her 2022 arrest on drug-related charges.

The WNBA star spoke for the first time about her months-long detention in Russia during an ABC interview that aired in the US on Wednesday evening. Her memoir, Coming Home, will be released on May 7.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

“I wanted to end my life more than once in the first few weeks,” Griner told ABC. “I was so excited to get out of here.” She decided not to do so partly because she feared that Russian authorities would not release her body to her family.

Griner said she accidentally packed the cannabis oil due to a “mental error,” similar to losing car keys but on a “larger scale.”

The 33-year-old said she was shocked by the conditions in her first prison, known as IK-1. Griner, who is 6 feet tall, said her height made her stay even more uncomfortable. “There was a huge blood stain on the mattress. They give you two thin sheets, so you’re basically lying on bars,” she said. “The middle of my shin down to my feet was sticking through the bars, which is why in prison you don’t really want to put your leg and arms through bars because someone goes up and grabs it, twists it, breaks it and that’s what went through my head.”

Griner said she was given one roll of toilet paper a month, and toothpaste that was more than a decade old – she used it to remove mold from her cell walls. She also said a fellow inmate, Alana, helped her through her ordeal. Griner was well-known in Russia before her arrest and had won several national titles with UMMC Ekaterinburg. She was known to her fellow inmates as “The American” and “The Basketball Player.”

Griner said her second prison, IK-2, was a harsh labor camp where she had to cut her hair because of the harsh conditions. “We had spiders above my bed making nests,” she said. “My dreads started to freeze. They just stayed wet and cold and I got too sick. You have to do what you have to do to survive.”

Her fate unfolded when Russia invaded Ukraine and her detention further increased tensions between Russia and the US. She was released in December 2022 after the US arranged a prisoner swap involving Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner said that before she was released, she was forced to write a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. ‘They made me write this letter. It was in Russian,” she said. “I had to ask for forgiveness and thanks from their so-called great leader. I didn’t want to do it, but at the same time I wanted to come home.”

She was disappointed to learn that Paul Whelan, another American detained in Russia, was not with her when she boarded her plane home. “I kept walking and didn’t see it [Walker], maybe he’ll be next. Maybe they’ll bring him next,” she said. ‘They closed the door and I thought: are you serious? Won’t you let this man come home now?’

Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury and is considered one of the best players of the modern era. She is a nine-time WNBA All-Star and has won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA. The WNBA season starts on May 14.