Prison Shock: The Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars
He contested the legal system and justice won.
Sixty days after getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems destined for incarceration.
Expected Jailing
The found-guilty instigator – who's been under home confinement in his mansion while a set of legal procedures and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the near future, during mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.
Previous Remarks on Inmates
Throughout Bolsonaro’s long public life, the conservative former military man showed minimal mercy for the country's jailed individuals.
“For what reason must we provide those lowlifes a good life?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be messed, period. That's my view.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, all you have to do is not rape, kidnap or rob.”
Incarceration Location Speculation
Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the complex in an seeming effort to dissuade the high court from transferring him there.
Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, stated he anticipated the elderly politician to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal problems – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His condition is highly critical. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the condition of inmate food.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing 40 detainees: “It's practically one square meter per inmate.
“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible food,” added the senator.
Allies Voice Concerns
He is not the only voice speaking out before the former president’s predicted incarceration.
Writing in a leading daily, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest political injustice in its record”.
“It is an unfairness that gnaws the spirits of countless of Brazilians,” the former minister said.
Varied General Opinion
It is possibly accurate considering the substantial backing Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the feelings of many other people who think he should be imprisoned for planning to prevent his successor from taking power – and even plotting to have him murdered.
The lawmaker, a representative for the sitting president's allied group, said: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to receive dignified handling – but proper handling in prison. He must not continue being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”
He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh handling of inmates, had suddenly realized to their rights. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly asserted that basic rights were not for offenders – decided to tour a jail to find out what situations are actually like,” he said.
“The former president is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, demeaning conduct”.
Possible Incarceration Facilities
In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 prisoners, his more likely location looks to be a nearby jail for police officers and other “special” detainees known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although still a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the spectacular presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.
Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the size of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 square meter bathroom with a shower and a 12 sq metre balcony. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a set and additionally a small fridge in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” sources suggested.
Ideological Responses
He criticized the speculated proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his future in the {