Last week I wrote that representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were allowed to visit WNBA star Brittney Griner in prison. It had been since August before that since they had even spoken to Griner on the phone.

Griner played for a Russian team during the WNBA’s offseason. Her baggage was being inspected by Russian airport employees when canisters of cannabis oil were found. That is when this long story began. She claimed the vape cannisters were in her luggage due to a packing oversight. She didn’t mean to pack them, she said. And, she produced a letter from her physician which claimed Brittney has a prescription for cannabis oil to treat pain. An appeal for leniency was denied in August and again in October. She was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.

There has been lots of talk about a prisoner swap for her and another American prisoner, Paul Whelan, who was sentenced for espionage. It was reported the swap would be the two Americans for two Russians currently imprisoned, one of whom is a convicted Russian arms dealer.

The families of Griner and Whelan have demanded attention from Sleepy Joe Biden and his administration to get their loved ones released. Biden met with both families after reports began being published and Biden was beginning to look bad for ignoring the situation. Biden may not have been ignoring the pleas of the two families, he likely didn’t know anything about them, as his inner circle keeps him in a pretty tight bubble. Don’t tell Grandpa. Or, there is the possibility that he was aware of the situation and is just being his usual inept self in trying to secure their return home. Anyway, the Russians didn’t appreciate all the attention in the media that the two Americans were receiving and they shut down discussions. The Kremlin says the only way prisoner swaps can be negotiated is in silence.

Today the headline is that Brittney has been moved to a penal colony and its location is unknown. Drug possession is a serious charge in any country, especially overseas. Any American traveling outside of the United States is subject to local laws. Russians don’t mess around. Griner wasn’t new to Russia, she has played basketball there during the WNBA’s off-season in past years. She knew better. That said, we know the Russians are brutal to prisoners. No one wishes that brutality on another American.

The White House refers to it as “wrongful detention.”

“Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “As we have said before, the U.S. Government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”

Her lawyers said Wednesday that they did not know exactly where she was or where she would end up — but that they expected to be notified when she reached her final destination.

In a statement stressing the work being done to secure Griner’s release, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that Russian authorities give the embassy regular access to Griner, as they are required to do. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow visited Griner last week.

A senior State Department official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case, said the Russians had not notified American diplomats of Griner’s transfer ahead of time and had not yet responded to queries from the American embassy about either her current whereabouts or ultimate destination.

Wrongful detention seems to be an inappropriate description, though. She broke the law, intentionally or not. Of course the Russians would assume the worst from an American coming before a court on drug possession charges. This is further complicated by the fact that the United States is supporting Ukraine after Putin’s invasion into that country.

We know from past accounts from prisoners in Russia that conditions are brutal.

In many penal colonies, prisoners work for minimal pay, and dissidents and other countries have denounced the conditions of those held. Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny went on a hunger strike to protest his treatment, including officials’ refusal to give him the right medicines and to allow his doctor to visit him behind bars.

He also protested the hourly checks a guard makes on him at night, saying they amount to sleep deprivation torture.

Let’s hope that both Griner and Whelan are released soon and back with their loved ones.