INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The news that American basketball player Brittney Griner had arrived in the IK-2 penal colony in Mordovia, also known as the Russian "land
of prisons," left locals rather unmoved.The double Olympic gold medalist was handed nine years in prison in August for drug possession and
trafficking over possessing vape cartridges with a small quantity of cannabis oil.Griner maintains she was using it to relieve pain from
'particularly dangerous' here," said ex-convict turned taxi driver Vitaly Doyne, 48.Doyne, who spent six years in a penal colony in
Mordovia, said he was "surprised" that a famous athlete had been sent in "such a dump."There are around two dozen prisons in Mordovia, a
Saturday's local market, most residents refused to talk to the press or said they had heard nothing about Griner's case.However one woman
stopped, intent on speaking to AFP."The law is the same for everyone, for big-wigs and for ordinary people," said Svytlana, a 50-year-old
If she behaves properly, she'll get out early and with a clean conscience."Fears remain over what treatment awaits Griner in the Mordovian
organization that defends the rights of inmates in Russia.Some detainees have reported beatings in IK-2 and labor conditions are "not far
from slavery," she said."But there are much worst prisons" in Russia, added Romanova, currently exiled in Germany.She explained that,
contrary to men's prisons, there are "no systems of castes or hierarchies" among detainees in women's colonies.On the flip side, imprisoned
prisoner swap between the U.S
and Russia, which could see her return home.As long as negotiations are ongoing, the administration "will take care of her," Romanova
says."But if negotiations stop, then she will be in danger."Griner being "lesbian, American, and black," are three more reasons for concern,
is seen as "a mortal enemy" said Romanova."It's a good thing she doesn't speak Russian, she won't be able to understand what people say to
her," she added."I think that could solve some of her problems."
