US President Joe Biden expressed hope on Wednesday that now the US midterms have concluded, Russian President Vladimir Putin may be more inclined to discuss a deal on Brittney Griner's release.
At a media conference, Biden remarked that he hopes "that now that the election is over, that Putin will be able to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously" regarding Brittney Griner prisoner exchange, AP News reported.
Brittney Griner's Lawyers Still Have No Information
Biden made the comments just hours after Griner's attorneys disclosed that their client had been transferred to a correctional colony to serve time for narcotics possession. US authorities have been trying to negotiate the release of Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, from Russian prison for months.
However, there have been no evident developments on the Brittney Griner prisoner exchange. After a Russian court denied her nine-year sentence appeal last month, a diplomatic solution is urgent. Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time all-star center for the Phoenix Mercury, was found guilty on August 4 after authorities at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport reported finding vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.
After spending time in a detention center outside of Moscow, Griner's legal team said that on November 4 she transferred to a penal colony, as Russian jails are more often called. She had already lost her appeal, so this step was to be expected.
The period for such a transfer to occur can be several days or weeks, during which the prisoner has no access to legal counsel or relatives. Griner may still be tough to reach when she gets there, as many Russian prisons are in inaccessible regions.
On Wednesday, her attorneys noted they had no idea about her exact location or where she would be transferred. They expected a Brittney Griner update when she arrived safely.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement emphasizing the efforts being made to obtain Brittney Griner's release and demanding that Russian authorities grant the embassy the regular access to Griner that they are obligated to grant. Griner was visited last week by US Embassy officials in Moscow.
Griner's agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, also released a statement Tuesday night, saying, "Our primary concern continues to be BG's health and well-being." She also asked for the support of the public to continue sending the jailed athlete messages filled with love and support, as per an ESPN report.
Russian Penal Colonies
According to research by the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Poland, the great majority of Russian prisons are actually penal colonies, where convicts live in barracks rather than cells and are often compelled to work.The group claims that, as of 2019, more than 800 such institutions were operating in Russia, per a CNN report.
Most were constructed under the Soviet Union and have been likened to Joseph Stalin's mid-20th century gulags, and harsh prison camps. According to the Globe Prison Brief, Russia has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Europe, with about half a million inmates spread among its many prisons and jails.
However, in contrast to the rest of the world, this figure has been steadily declining over the past few years. Today's prisoners, including Brittney Griner, are subject to varying degrees of monitoring and limitations based on the kind of institution they are sentenced to do their time in, and not all of these settings demand manual work.
Famous political prisoners, activists, and non-citizens who were forced to live in repressive colonies have spoken out about their ordeals. Amnesty International found that inmates are frequently transported great distances throughout the country and that the trips to colonies can be perilous and last as long as a month.
The watchdog reported that the travels frequently involve crowded railway cars. The OSW also found that many prisoners are housed in outdated, under-equipped institutions that are already overcrowded. The OSW has stated that human rights breaches and torture are commonplace in Russian prisons despite several initiatives toward reform.
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