Brittney Griner recalls bloodstained mattress and other harsh living conditions during Russian detainment

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Brittney Griner says she was subjected to inhumane conditions during her nearly 10-month-long detainment in Russia, which included her final stay at a Russian penal colony, where the WNBA star says she was forced to work on helping to produce military clothing. 

In her first sit down interview after being released in December 2022 in a prisoner exchange, Griner detailed her living conditions in an interview with ABC News' "Good Morning America." 

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted from a courtroom after a hearing in Khimki, just outside Moscow, on Aug. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

"The mattress had a huge bloodstain, and they give you these thin two sheets, so you’re basically laying on bars," Griner said of her initial detainment at Correctional Colony No. 1, or IK-1 as it is more commonly referred to. 

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"From the middle of my shin to my feet stuck through the bars, which in prison, you really don’t want to stick your leg and arm through bars because someone could go up and grab it, break it, twist it and that’s what was going through my mind." 

Griner was arrested at a Russian airport in February 2022 after it was discovered that she had been traveling with cartridges containing cannabis oil. She had been traveling to Russia to play basketball in the offseason and credited the mistake as simply a "mental lapse." 

Griner was swiftly taken into custody to await her fate. 

Brittney Griner, #15 of the US National Team, warms up prior to their exhibition game against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov. 12,