Trevor Reed, a United States citizen who spent nearly three years in Russian jail, spoke at a rally in Houston for Brittney Griner on Monday, calling on the U.S. government to bring her and fellow detainee Paul Whelan back to America while describing their current living conditions.

Griner, the Phoenix Mercury center and two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been in custody in Russia since February when authorities accused her of carrying cannabis oil in her luggage at a Moscow-area airport.

After a brief period of silence on the matter, the WNBA and basketball community at large has repeatedly called on the White House to bring her back to the U.S. The U.S. State Department has classified Griner as "wrongfully detained."

The rally took place outside the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, and was organized by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), the city of Houston (Monday was declared "Brittney Griner Day" by Mayor Sylvester Turner) and the NAACP Houston chapter.

Reed attended with his family and spoke before the crowd.

"This is extremely important to bringing Americans home, is the community and citizens getting involved and getting loud," Reed said, speaking from note cards.

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A U.S. Marine veteran and former State Department contractor, Reed was held for 985 days after being accused of assaulting a Russian police officer. He was sentenced to nine years in a labor camp and developed multiple health issues during that time. Both chambers of Congress also adopted resolutions last year calling for Reed’s release.

"You will not receive medical treatment inside a Russian prison," Reed, 30, said.

Reed called the food and conditions in general "medieval." He said he had COVID-19 multiple times and began coughing up blood for more than three months, with no care administered. He was freed via prisoner exchange in April.

"They live in a cell that looks like it's something out of the Middle Ages," Reed said. "As an Americans, you can't imagine what that place looks like until you actually see that for yourselves.

"Those conditions are what Brittney and Paul are living in right now as we're having this conversation."

In an interview with "Good Morning America" last month, Griner's wife Cherelle appealed to President Joe Biden to become involved in bringing Griner back.

On Sunday, four-time NBA champion and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James tweeted "we need to come together and help do whatever we possibly can to bring BG home quickly and safely!!" along with calls for action.

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brittney Griner: Trevor Reed begs US to get WNBA star out of Russia