Former Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer Robinho has revealed the brutal reality of his life behind bars in a Brazilian prison.
Robinho was convicted in 2017 in Italy for his part in the gang rape of a women at a night club in Milan in 2013.
He was later arrested in Brazil in 2024 and is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in his home country.
The Italian government had requested that he serve his sentence in Brazil after failing to have him extradited, with a court in Brazil upholding the decision - ruling that he should serve his time behind bars instead of under house arrest.
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Robinho is currently serving his sentence in Tremembe prison in the state of Sao Paulo and this week was allowed to publish a video from inside, describing the conditions.
The former Brazil international insists he is an ordinary prisoner, receiving no special treatment despite his background as a professional footballer.
The Taubate Community Council, a non-profit organisation created by Judge Sueli Zeraik to support the Judiciary, shared a video of Robinho denying privileges or receiving different treatment from other inmates.
"I've never received any special treatment," he said [via Marca].
"Visits are on Saturdays or Sundays. When my wife doesn't come alone, she comes with my children. Visits are the same for everyone, and the treatment is the same for all.
"My diet, my sleep schedule, everything is the same as the other inmates. I've never eaten anything different, I've never received different treatment. When it's time to work, I do everything the other inmates do.
"If we want to play football, it's allowed on Sundays, when there's no work.
"They've been spreading lies that I'm a prison leader or that I have psychological problems. I've never had that, I've never had to take medication, thank God.
"Despite how difficult it is to be in prison, it's normal, but thank God I've always kept a cool head and I'm doing everything any inmate can do."
Robinho added: "Here in Tremembe prison, the goal is to re-educate and resocialise those who have made mistakes. I never had any kind of leadership here, or anywhere else.
"Here, the guards are in charge, as I already told you, and we, the inmates, just obey."
The 41-year-old is imprisoned at the Tremembe prison known as the 'prison of the famous' in Brazil, with 430 inmates distributed in cells that vary in size from nine to 15 square meters and in which in up to six people can be housed.
Some of the ex-footballer's inmates include politician Luiz Estevao and known murderers such as Alexandre Nardoni, Cristian Cravinhos and Roger Abdelmassih.
Nasir Jabbar