It is the stuff of nightmares, quite frankly. But for American citizen Savoy Wright, it was a reality. Detained for no apparent reason, Wright said that he was kidnapped, held for ransom, and confined to a tiny Venezuelan prison cell for nearly two months. And while his family fought for his release, he worried for his safety, sharing his cell with up to four others. Last month, he became one of 10 Americans released from Venezuelan detention in a prisoner swam. Savoy Wright is here now to tell his story for the very first time, exclusively to CNN. Savoy, thank you so much for being here. And welcome home. I had the pleasure speaking to your mother and sister who were fighting for your return, and it must be overjoying to see them and be home. But Tell me a little bit about how you even got to that experience. You were detained. You didn't know why, but you knew that you were in trouble. Yes.

I just want to say thanks for having me. It's been quite a journey. So how did I get to the experience? Essentially, first start with kidnapping. It was an interesting situation where I was led to a certain area, and it was either you want to go to jail or you want to go home type of thing. You're going to be a witness or you're going to jail is what they told me. It was Started with shock, and I just went along to see what the process would be, and it ended up getting worse and worse until I became a political hostage that was being traded in a huge sanctions internationally.

Once they realized you were American, that changed a lot, didn't it?

Said you were a premium.

What did that mean to you?

It could mean severe danger, but it can also mean dollar signs, our opportunity for leverage and trading. But the word got out. I was American, and I was in Venezuela. It wasn't the best opportunity.

Some would look at what the Tate Department in their different categories to different places. Venezuela, obviously a high-risk area. You traveled there nonetheless, but one could not have anticipated this happening. Did you realize, though, the extent of danger you may have been in even going?

Yes. Actually, I've been there before. I had a visa, actually, in Venezuela. I speak Spanish. I've been to pretty much all Latin countries in Latin America, except for Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana, and Guyana Francesa. I'm very familiar with the culture, with the terrain in Venezuela, the people. I was looking at business opportunities. For me, it felt like, yeah, there's risk. There's risk everywhere. There's risk in the United States, too. But I didn't realize the extent of the risk I was as an American citizen.

I mean, visa or not, you ended up in a prison. Correct. What happened to you there could have cost your life. There were moments you thought you would, in fact, not get out. What was your experience like inside Have you been to Venezuela in prison?

Yeah, well, I was actually moved around to four different places. Really? So I had four different experiences. In each of those, it was the absolute worst. And then I saw a pattern. It would eventually get better. So whether through prayer, calling on certain Archangels, God, reading the New Testament, it was one of the only things that were available to read. You don't really have privileges to read material. Sometimes a lot of coffee to stay up at night.

Why were you so intent on staying up? Were you afraid of being harmed?

There are some places it wasn't safe, probably to go to sleep.Inside.

The prisons?Correct. Was it even worse because you were an American in that prison?

You could say that. You could say it was worse. In some places, it was better.

You're very tall sitting here. Obviously, it's deceptive in television. We appear to be the same height. We are not. I'm 5'3. You're what? 8 feet tall? I can't imagine. But you're, I think, like 6'7. How tall are you? 6'11. 6'11. Okay, we'll see, even more so. I'm trying to picture in an average prison, being able to have the facilities and the space, even if you were the only person in the cell, that you shared with up to four people, and with your height and physical appearance, how did that impact you?

Some of the actual The holding cells where I was, it was up to 10 people or more. So it was actually more than four. Beds, you make it work, sleep diagonally. But it's really about survival. There's a word in Spanish, aguantar, which is to stand. So you're essentially Essentially, you withstand enough because they would always say, You need to adapt. You need to make this your normal. I'm like, This isn't normal. I'm going to survive. I'm going to get through these times, and then I'm going to get out. Then, of course, you have those moments when you break. You just say, How did I get here? Am I ever going to make it out? When you're looking at that wall, you haven't been outside for 30 days, haven't seen the sun, fresh air, little things we take for granted.

You certainly, those who held you at different points, seem to exploit financially the dire straits that you found yourself in. At some point, were you aware that the State Department was going to try to help that you had been designated as wrongfully held? What was that process like of having that revealed to you?

It was never revealed to me. Really? I didn't even know I was a hostage until the end. So it was originally it was money grab, kidnapping. I was being detained, investigated to make sure that I wasn't a spy. There's a concern for espionage that's big in Venezuela, especially for foreigners from the United States. Once I was cleared as not being a spy, I was still declared as a spy, and then I was moved to a political prison. And at that point, some of the Americans were actually able to let me know, Hey, we're going to let you know what's going on, by the way. We're being held hostage in a huge sanctions deal as leverage, and my heart dropped, and it was just the worst nightmare. All over again. Some of them have been there up to two years.

Really? Yeah. You finally found yourself able to get on that plane to be able to return. You are still grappling with a lot of the trauma of the time you were there. I can imagine the psychological effects and the emotional turmoil that you must grapple with. But what is your statement you want to make? What do you want people to know about what has happened to you to stop it from happening to them?

Well, one, in the most difficult times, I was never alone. My spiritual family was there, my spiritual support. You want to call it God, universe, the angels. When I really needed it, I called in them when they were there. So people know you're never alone. Number two, prevention. This is an issue that's happening all over the world. I was in the office for the speed office, one of the hostage affairs that helped to rescue us, and they have rescued people from all over the world, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, you name it. There's people that have been rescued and actually were wrongfully detained, even who were murdered in different places and brought back. This is a real issue that's happening everywhere. People are connected traffic from the US as well. My mentors who actually helped to bring us home, who was special in my case, said, Sevoit, make sure you mention about spring break coming up. For all the families who send their kids on spring break, just think about it. 50% of the countries have elections this year. This is a very delicate time. Kids are working hard. They're in school. But just think about it twice.

Is it really worth it to send them in some places where they could be put at risk?

Savoy, right. Welcome home.Thank you.Thank you. So nice to see you.