Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison
He battled justice and the legal system triumphed.
Two months after receiving a 27-year sentence for attempting to “eradicate” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears headed to prison.
Imminent Incarceration
The convicted coup-monger – who has been living under residential detention in his mansion while a series of judicial steps and challenges play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, amid increasing talk that he will be transferred to a well-known high-security prison.
Past Remarks on Convicts
During Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right former soldier displayed minimal mercy for Brazil’s prison population.
“What’s the need to provide those lowlifes a good life?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be screwed, period. That’s what I reckon.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, you simply need is not sexual assault, abduction or rob.”
Incarceration Facility Debate
But the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, a group of four this week toured the facility in an obvious bid to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.
The senator, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious gut ailments – the result of a life-threatening knife attack during the last presidential campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the standard of inmate food.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells accommodating 40 inmates: “That is practically one meter squared per detainee.
“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible food,” added the senator.
Backers Speak Out
The senator isn't the only voice expressing views before the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.
Writing in a major daily, a different supporter, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest wrong in its record”.
“It is an unfairness that gnaws the souls of countless of Brazilians,” the former minister said.
Mixed General Reaction
This could be accurate given the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. However his expected jailing has also gladdened the feelings of many individuals who think he should be jailed for planning to stop the elected leader from assuming office – and also scheming to have him murdered.
Congressman Otoni, a representative for the incumbent leader's allied group, said: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to get proper treatment – but proper care behind bars. He cannot persist being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have long applauding the severe conditions of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their privileges. “Recently has the extreme right – which has always claimed that civil liberties are not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a penitentiary to discover what circumstances are truly like,” he said.
“The former president is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, degrading conduct”.
Possible Prison Environment
In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely location looks to be a nearby prison for officers and other “particular” inmates called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
The accommodations are much more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although still a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the impressive leader's home, around a short distance away.
As per reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 260 square feet – approximately the area of vehicle spaces – and includes a 130 square foot WC with a bathing area and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a set and additionally a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” the report stated.
Partisan Comments
The lawmaker criticized the rumoured idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his fate in the {