Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He contested the legal system and the law prevailed.
Two months after being handed a 27-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” Brazil’s democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally looks destined for incarceration.
Anticipated Incarceration
The convicted plotter – who's been under home confinement in his mansion while a series of legal procedures and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, during mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious top-security prison.
Past Statements on Inmates
Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the conservative ex- military man exhibited minimal compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“What’s the need to offer those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They should just get fucked, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to finish behind bars, the only thing required is not rape, kidnap or theft.”
Prison Location Discussion
But the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, four of whom this week visited the complex in an apparent attempt to discourage the high court from transferring him there.
The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, claimed he predicted the elderly politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute gut problems – the consequence of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 presidential political campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His health is extremely serious. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he commented, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the quality of jail cuisine.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing four dozen inmates: “That’s virtually one square meter per detainee.
“We spoke to the convicts and they complain, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” continued the senator.
Allies Voice Concerns
The senator isn't the only voice expressing views before the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.
Writing in a major publication, a different supporter, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its history”.
“This is an unfairness that eats away the hearts of many of Brazilians,” he stated.
Mixed Public Reaction
It is possibly accurate considering the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. Yet his expected jailing has also pleased the feelings of millions others who believe he deserves to be imprisoned for conspiring to stop the elected leader from taking power – and even scheming to have him killed.
Congressman Otoni, a representative for the current president's political party, said: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to get dignified care – but proper care behind bars. He can’t persist being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”
Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the harsh conditions of inmates, had suddenly become aware to their entitlements. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has always asserted that civil liberties were not for criminals – chosen to inspect a penitentiary to find out what circumstances are truly like,” he remarked.
“The former president is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, degrading conduct”.
Possible Jail Conditions
Despite rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now houses about fourteen thousand detainees, his probable assigned facility looks to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “special” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
His potential cell are considerably more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the stunning official residence, approximately 20 kilometers away.
Based on sources, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – roughly the area of two parking spaces – and features a 12 square meter bathroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a set and additionally a cooler in his quarters as long as they were provided by his family,” sources suggested.
Partisan Comments
He criticized the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his future in the {