Prison Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars
He battled justice and the legal system won.
Sixty days following receiving a 27-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” the nation's political system, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks jail-bound.
Imminent Incarceration
The adjudicated instigator – who has been under house arrest in his residence while a set of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, amid mounting rumors that he will be sent to a notorious high-security facility.
Previous Remarks on Inmates
Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right former soldier showed little sympathy for the country's prison population.
“Why should we provide these lowlifes a easy time?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be messed, end of story. That's my opinion.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up behind bars, you simply need is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”
Prison Facility Speculation
Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, several of whom this week inspected the prison in an seeming attempt to prevent the high court from banishing him there.
Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, stated he expected the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the next 10 days and worried his destination could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut issues – the result of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 presidential election race – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the quality of jail cuisine.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells accommodating 40 detainees: “That’s almost one square metre per inmate.
“We talked to the inmates and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the awful meals,” remarked the senator.
Supporters Speak Out
He is not the only voice voicing opinions prior to the ex-leader's predicted detention.
Penning in a leading daily, a different supporter, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the largest political injustice in its history”.
“It is an unfairness that erodes the hearts of many Brazilian citizens,” the former minister said.
Divided Public Reaction
This could be correct due to the significant support Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. But his predicted imprisonment has also gladdened the spirits of numerous individuals who think he deserves to be jailed for plotting to prevent his successor from taking power – and also scheming to have him murdered.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the sitting president's political party, said: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in isolation. No one wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to get dignified care – but dignified care behind bars. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his entire life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the harsh treatment of convicts, had abruptly woken up to their rights. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always argued that human rights are not for lawbreakers – opted to tour a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are really like,” he remarked.
“The former president is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, degrading conduct”.
Potential Prison Environment
Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely assigned facility looks to be a close prison for police officers and other “particular” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more adequate than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro had while residing in the stunning official residence, about 20 kilometers away.
Based on reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – approximately the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 sq metre bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre terrace. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a TV and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” sources indicated.
Partisan Reactions
He criticized the talked-about plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his outcome in the {