Negotiations implicit a imaginable captive swap for Brinttney Griner person dragged connected for months arsenic she is acceptable to beryllium transferred to a penal colony. | Washington Post/Getty Images
Anastasiia Carrier is simply a writer based successful New York.
Crowded barracks, constricted entree to wellness care, grueling labour and abusive inmates and unit — these are conscionable immoderate of the things that Brittney Griner, the WNBA prima sentenced to nine-and-a-half years implicit little than a gram of cannabis lipid successful a vape cartridge, could expect to find successful a Russian penal colony, according to Olga Romanova, a laminitis of situation rights advocacy radical Russia Behind Bars.
The fraught narration betwixt Russia and the U.S. has lone worsened since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, and negotiations implicit a imaginable captive swap for Griner person dragged connected for months. “In the existent governmental situation, the information that she is American is surely a disadvantage,” Romanova said. “She is evidently going to travel retired arsenic a antithetic person. We can’t cognize what benignant of idiosyncratic that would be.”
Romanova, 56, founded the advocacy radical successful 2008 aft her hubby was imprisoned implicit alleged fiscal crimes. (He was released aft serving 4 years.) Romanova was an acclaimed writer with much than 2 decades of acquisition covering everything from economical quality to the bloody Beslan schoolhouse siege of 2004, but she was inactive shocked to recognize that the Russian situation strategy was hardly immoderate antithetic from the Gulags she’d work astir successful books written 50 years earlier.
“I rapidly realized I didn’t cognize my country,” she told me.
Now the advocacy radical provides a wide scope of assistance to radical incarcerated successful Russia, from offering humanitarian assistance during their sentences to grooming nationalist defenders. Romanova moved to Germany successful 2017 aft Russian authorities accused her of embezzling funds and raided the non-profit’s offices. Later, a tribunal recovered her innocent, but she decided to stay successful Germany and negociate the advocacy radical from there. She said she inactive receives dozens of audio messages from incarcerated radical each day.
“I’ve been doing this for 15 years; I person a batch of stories,” Romanova said.
Russian penal colonies, successors of the infamously brutal Gulags that took an estimated 1.6 cardinal lives nether the regularisation of Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin, are overmuch harsher than astir U.S. prisons. They are usually located acold distant from cities, isolating prisoners successful distant locations. For immoderate families, it’s costly to question crossed the state to visit, and adjacent though astir colonies are accessible by autobus oregon car, immoderate necessitate you to locomotion the past mile done a restricted area.
Intensely agelong and hard workdays, brutal carnal and intersexual violence, meager rations and different quality rights abuses are prevalent successful the system. For women, Romanova says, it’s adjacent worse — “Everyone is up for themselves there. Everything goes — you tin betray, you tin abuse. There are nary rules of behavior.”
I spoke with Romanova connected Zoom astir what Griner’s acquisition successful a Russian penal colony mightiness look like. She painted a acheronian picture.
“I don’t deliberation anyone would support her,” she told me. “Americans won’t judge me, but quality rights don’t beryllium successful Russian colonies —– nary close to health, dignity oregon life. Nothing, hide it.”
This speech took spot earlier this month, earlier the quality astir Griner being transferred to a penal colony broke. It was translated from Russian and edited for brevity and clarity.
Anastasiia Carrier: Let’s get a basal question retired of the way: What is the quality betwixt a situation and a penal colony?
Olga Romanova: I deliberation what you privation to cognize is the quality betwixt the detention halfway and a penal colony.
To beryllium honest, I deliberation it would beryllium easier for Brittney successful a colony. A beingness successful a detention halfway is simply a beingness successful a compartment with 40 to 42 radical connected bunk beds. Forty women successful 1 room, tin you imagine? They person constricted walks and constricted rights to person attraction packages. It’s intolerable to past connected the benignant of nutrient they provender them there.
Now, Griner is astir to transportation to the colonies. We won’t beryllium capable to cognize thing astir her astatine this stage. Every signifier of this process is classified, and we won’t beryllium capable to way her. We besides wouldn’t cognize however overmuch she is traveling — it could beryllium 2 days, oregon it could beryllium 2 months.
Then she would get to the wide information colony — determination are lone wide information colonies for women, portion men get some wide and high-security colonies. It would beryllium distant from large cities, not beauteous and not comfortable. But astatine slightest it wouldn’t beryllium a confined space, and she would person entree to caller air.
Colonies enactment limits connected everything — women are wearing uniforms, they are required to work, required to ever greet staff. In our work, we deliberation women’s colonies are much unsafe than men’s.
Carrier: That’s interesting, wherefore bash you deliberation women’s colonies are much dangerous?
Romanova: You see, successful men’s colonies, adjacent with each their cruelty from organized crime, they person unspoken rules of behaviour and an unofficial radical of powerfulness brokers called the blat komitet that controls the behavior. When colony authorities request to support the peace, they spell to the blat komitet and onslaught a deal. Women’s colonies don’t person that. Everyone is up for themselves there. Everything goes — you tin betray, you tin abuse. There are nary rules of behavior.
In men’s colonies, men often unite successful couples successful a non-sexual way, truthful it would beryllium easier to person attraction packages and survive. In women’s colonies, determination are besides these couples, but they are often of a intersexual quality and often associated with violence. Domination is communal successful women’s colonies. Dominating — meaning sexually abusive — women instrumentality up enactment roles successful women’s colonies. They get supervision roles astatine the colony’s manufacturing enterprise, and they often collaborate with campy authorities.
Women’s colony authorities, who privation to guarantee submission, besides get originative — archer a pistillate you won’t springiness her play pads and she mightiness cooperate and snitch connected different women. Everyone knows that anyone among them tin beryllium a mole, and everyone prefers to support to themselves.
Carrier: What benignant of stories bash you perceive from the women’s colonies? Is determination a mode to foretell what Griner’s clip successful the colonies would look like?
Romanova: There is this 1 American pistillate we worked with, Sarah Krivanek. She is successful Skopino colony successful Ryazan Oblast. We person been helping her for a portion now. (Krivanek was released earlier this period and is presently successful a holding compartment awaiting her deportation proceeding connected Nov. 11. She was sentenced to 1 twelvemonth and 3 months successful a penal colony for a home maltreatment incidental successful Moscow and she claims the charges were wrongful.) She has issues with receiving aesculapian assistance due to the fact that she doesn’t person a Russian government-issued aesculapian security certificate. And she can’t wage for the services due to the fact that she can’t person wealth transfers from the U.S.
Here is simply a connection from 1 of my unit members connected this: “It’s hard to explicate to Americans immoderate things. For one, wherefore bash they usage ember to vigor the barracks erstwhile determination are much modern ways to bash it?” Because determination is nary different vigor source. “Or wherefore bash they see cigarettes to beryllium a currency?” Cigarettes are currency, and a U.S. dollar is not. We would ever nonstop our conservatees cigarettes successful attraction packages.
Getting retired isn’t casual either. My ex-husband 2 husbands agone got authorization to prime up Sarah’s recognition cards and her passport, which were inactive successful constabulary custody successful Moscow. He volition conscionable Sarah astatine the airdrome earlier her formation and instrumentality it to her.
Carrier: So, nary 1 successful Russia volition assistance you reunite with your idiosyncratic items erstwhile you get retired of prison?
Romanova: No, adjacent the U.S. consulate wouldn’t assistance you. And we tried organizing this.
Carrier: In your experience, are Americans treated otherwise successful Russian colonies? Would Griner beryllium treated otherwise due to the fact that she is Black, openly cheery and famous?
Romanova: Absolutely. First and foremost, she would beryllium seen arsenic a menace due to the fact that she is cheery and past due to the fact that she is American. One of our erstwhile conservatees, Anastasia, was imprisoned for being cheery connected made-up accusations. She was released a mates of years backmost and emigrated. Because she is simply a lesbian, nary 1 wanted to prosecute her successful the colonies to work. She had to unload bid cars with sacks of coal. One specified sack was 110 pounds and she was doing it each time long. It damaged her health.
Also, the Russian authorities taught radical agelong agone that Americans are the force of humankind. She is apt to beryllium jumped successful the bathrooms; her nutrient mightiness beryllium taken away. She is apt to acquisition a batch of verbal maltreatment with the benignant of slurs nary 1 ever should hear.
If Brittney doesn’t talk Russian, I don’t adjacent know. If idiosyncratic writes a petition to america asking america to assistance her, I volition find her an English-speaking volunteer. But determination is this 1 happening — successful Russian prisons, it’s forbidden to talk immoderate connection but Russian. All the conversations are routinely surveilled, and she would beryllium required to talk Russian. I don’t cognize however she would propulsion it off.
Carrier: I can’t adjacent ideate what it would beryllium similar successful a Russian colony without Russian connection skills. What would hap if she tried to talk English to someone? Would she beryllium punished for it?
Romanova: Yes. The punishment tin beryllium arsenic atrocious arsenic sending her to solitary confinement. Her visitation privileges would beryllium taken away. Her privilege to person attraction packages would beryllium taken away. But she has spent a agelong clip successful the detention halfway already, I deliberation she astir apt tin recognize immoderate basal Russian and talk some.
Carrier: What benignant of occupation is Griner apt to get if they wouldn’t marque her unload coal?
Romanova: Women usually marque clothing. She would apt beryllium making covering for the police.
Salaries are usually tiny and for 1 presumption they often illegally motion up 10 women. I’m not definite they would prosecute her, an American, illegally. You indispensable person thing to bash from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. They would find her thing to bash successful the end, but nary 1 would marque her enactment the mode Russians enactment — each time long, 7 days a week, without abrogation and for conscionable a symbolic wage. It’s slavery.
Carrier: Do imprisoned radical usually someway enactment for the authorities oregon are determination backstage businesses that person contracts with the colonies?
Romanova: In the past, Gulags were labour camps and everyone determination worked for the nationalist system — they built railroads, dams and factories. When the Soviet system collapsed, the request to enactment portion incarcerated stayed. The existent enactment that imprisoned radical execute is to payment the pockets of the determination military-security establishment. It means that to get radical successful the colonies to enactment for you, you request to triumph a authorities contract. And to beryllium the radical who triumph these contracts, you request to beryllium connected to the bosses of the colony. There are bribes for section authorities. To support each of this in-house, the institution that ends up winning the declaration takes orders from the authorities. Imprisoned radical extremity up making things similar constabulary uniforms, truthful astir everyone successful the colonies makes clothes. There are immoderate places successful Siberia that bash logging.
Carrier: If astir of the colonies’ buildings are the aforesaid ones arsenic those utilized during the Soviet Gulag times, I ideate conditions are rough. Do radical unrecorded successful idiosyncratic cells oregon bash aggregate radical stock the aforesaid room?
Romanova: Imprisoned radical unrecorded successful ample woody barracks filled with bunk beds for astir 120 people. The country is divided into 2 parts, with 60 radical successful each. Temperature indoors seldom goes higher than 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In the middle, determination are respective toilets and showers. They person a retention country to store idiosyncratic possessions and a small room wherever they tin marque beverage successful their escaped time. Separately from the barracks, determination is simply a banya with blistery h2o showers — barrack showers don’t get blistery h2o — but imprisoned radical are not taken determination daily. There is besides a room and a club. Incarcerated radical are required to enactment successful taste activities — work lit and poetry, sing and creation to the staff’s enjoyment. In Russian. If you don’t participate, you don’t person rewards, and they are important — they get you support to person other attraction packages.
Carrier: What’s the nutrient like? I’ve work successful a U.S. State Department report connected quality rights abuses that Russian colonies person a occupation with mediocre nutrition.
Romanova: Right now, determination is little than a dollar designated regular per inmate, and officials bargain from that dollar. Likely menu: For breakfast, they get a barley porridge and saccharine tea. For lunch, it’s a crockery with mixed fats and cabbage and rotting potatoes. Dinner is the aforesaid porridge, slices of breadstuff and saccharine tea. You get eggs erstwhile a week if you’re lucky. Twice a week they get food and potatoes. You tin hide astir dairy. You can’t petition alterations.
Carrier: What are the chances that the Brittney Griner who comes retired of the Russian colony volition beryllium the aforesaid idiosyncratic she was before?
Romanova: She is evidently going to travel retired a antithetic person. We can’t cognize what benignant of idiosyncratic that volition be.
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