Maria Butina on her politicized incarceration in the US & horrific conditions in US prisons

Maria Butina, a Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee member, was a student of foreign affairs at the School of International Services (Washington, D.C.) in 2018 when she was convicted as acting as an unregistered foreign agent, and was imprisoned for 18 months—including 4 torturous months in solitary confinement.

In this conversation, Maria describes her incarceration and the harsh, inhumane and filthy conditions she experienced in various US prisons. She was subjected to psychological torture via sleep deprivation and prolonged isolation.

She now advocates for people facing political persecution.

“Now I help people who want to come to Russia, looking for asylum here, they fear their own state.”

Excerpts from her memoir, Prison diary, can be read here:
https://www.rt.com/russia/507910-maria-butina-prison-book-journal/

[Regarding my reference to the likewise horrible conditions journalist and editor Kirill Vyshinsky endured, imprisoned without trial for nearly 1.5 years in Ukraine, see my 2019 interview with Kirill.]
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2019/11/02/accused-of-treason-and-imprisoned-without-trial-journalist-kirill-vyshinsky-recounts-his-harrowing-time-in-a-ukrainian-prison/