Brittney Griner's Fears

The WNBA star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in Russian prison after customs agents found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage in February.

Griner's team has appealed the decision, but if she's not included in a prisoner swap between the US and Russia, the WNBA All-Star will likely serve her sentence at a penal colony.

As her detention has dragged on, Griner has grown increasingly fearful of the "miserable or inhumane conditions" she could face if and when her appeal is denied, her lawyer told The New York Times.

Here's what we know about Russian penal colonies and what Griner's experience could look like.

Russian penal colonies are prison-labor camps that are essentially the remnants of the Soviet Union's infamous Gulag system.  READ MORE...