Prison Shock: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He fought the legal system and the law triumphed.
A couple of months after receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last seems headed to prison.
Expected Imprisonment
The convicted instigator – who has been subject to home confinement in his residence while a series of court processes and appeals unfold – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, amidst increasing rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious top-security facility.
Past Comments on Prisoners
Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right ex- soldier showed scant mercy for the country's jailed individuals.
“Why should we offer those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to end up there, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
Prison Location Debate
But the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, several of whom this week inspected the prison in an apparent attempt to discourage the high court from transferring him there.
Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the septuagenarian politician to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal issues – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the last election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he added, who also worried about cramped cells and the standard of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled observing cells accommodating forty inmates: “That is practically one meter squared per detainee.
“We talked to the convicts and they grumble, naturally, of the horrible cuisine,” continued the senator.
Allies Voice Concerns
He is not the only voice speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated imprisonment.
Writing in a leading newspaper, one more backer, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the greatest unfairness in its record”.
“It represents an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of many people in Brazil,” the former minister said.
Mixed Popular Response
It is possibly correct considering the substantial backing Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. But his expected incarceration has also gladdened the spirits of numerous other people who feel he ought to be jailed for planning to prevent the elected leader from becoming president – and even conspiring to have him assassinated.
Reimont Otoni, a representative for the incumbent president's political party, stated: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. No one desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to get respectful treatment – but respectful treatment in prison. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”
He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the tough treatment of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their privileges. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has always argued that civil liberties were not for criminals – chosen to tour a prison to discover what conditions are truly like,” he stated.
“He is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, degrading conduct”.
Likely Prison Conditions
In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now contains about 14,000 prisoners, his expected assigned facility appears to be a close prison for officers and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
His potential cell are considerably more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro had while living in the spectacular presidential palace, about 12 miles away.
According to reports, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – about the size of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 sq metre restroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre veranda. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a TV and additionally a minibar in his quarters as long as they were donated by his family,” the report indicated.
Political Reactions
The lawmaker criticized the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his future in the {