Jailhouse Surprise: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He fought the law and justice won.
Two months after being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro now looks headed to prison.
Imminent Incarceration
The found-guilty plotter – who had been subject to home confinement in his mansion while a series of court processes and petitions play out – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the next few days, amid increasing rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious maximum security facility.
Past Statements on Inmates
Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right ex- military man showed minimal mercy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“Why should we offer those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
Prison Location Debate
Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, four of whom this week inspected the facility in an seeming attempt to dissuade the judiciary from banishing him there.
Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, said he expected the 70-year-old figure to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal ailments – the outcome of a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He won’t be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he added, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the quality of jail cuisine.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells holding four dozen prisoners: “That’s almost one square metre per inmate.
“We talked to the prisoners and they complain, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” added the senator.
Allies Voice Concerns
The senator isn't the sole person speaking out ahead of the ex-leader's predicted detention.
Penning in a leading daily, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the largest unfairness in its history”.
“This is an wrong that gnaws the spirits of many people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.
Mixed Public Response
It is possibly correct considering the substantial support Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. Yet his expected jailing has also warmed the hearts of many others who believe he should be imprisoned for planning to prevent the elected leader from taking power – and also scheming to have him assassinated.
Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the sitting president's allied group, stated: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. No one desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain dignified handling – but proper treatment in prison. He must not persist being his own prison warden for his entire life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time praising the tough conditions of convicts, had abruptly become aware to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has consistently asserted that civil liberties are not for criminals – decided to inspect a prison to learn what conditions are really like,” he stated.
“The former president is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, demeaning handling”.
Possible Prison Environment
In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now contains about 14,000 detainees, his probable destination looks to be a close jail for law enforcement and other “special” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more pleasant than those in the main prison, although still a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the impressive presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.
According to information, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – roughly the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 130 square foot WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a TV and additionally a cooler in his room as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” information suggested.
Ideological Responses
The lawmaker denounced the speculated idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his future in the {