Russian Pilot Yaroshenko Jailed in US: Conditions in New Prison 'Much Worse'

Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving a 20-year term in the United States, said that the conditions in a new prison in Danbury, Connecticut, where he had been transferred from the Fort Dix prison in New Jersey, were much worse.

"The conditions in this prison are much worse than in the Fort Dix. I was placed in a barrack for nearly one hundred people with bunk beds with firm mattress and without pillows," Yaroshenko told Izvestia newspaper in an interview released on Tuesday.

Speaking about other aspects, Yaroshenko also noted that he had not assessed the medical assistance in Danbury so far and could not know how the relations with the prison authorities would develop, according to the newspaper.

The pilot reportedly stressed that the planned visit of his wife and daughter, for the first time in 7 years, gave him hope and strength to overcome all the sufferings.

Yaroshenko was given 20 years in prison in 2011 on allegations of conspiring to import more than $100 million worth of cocaine into the United States. The Russian pilot was captured in Liberia in 2010 and handed over to the United States, prompting protests from Russia. In April 2016, the Appeals Court of New York refused to revise the pilot's sentence.

He has repeatedly spoken about the tough conditions he was subjected to at his prison, as well as his deteriorating health and lack of help from the US authorities to improve his condition.