Jailhouse Shock: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars
He fought justice and justice won.
Sixty days following being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro now looks jail-bound.
Anticipated Jailing
The adjudicated coup-monger – who has been under residential detention in his estate while a set of legal procedures and challenges play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, amid growing speculation that he will be moved to a well-known high-security prison.
Previous Comments on Inmates
Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the conservative former soldier displayed scant mercy for Brazil’s inmates.
“What’s the need to give these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be messed, period. That's my view.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to wind up in prison, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”
Incarceration Location Speculation
However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, a group of four this week inspected the prison in an apparent bid to discourage the high court from sending him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, said he anticipated the septuagenarian politician to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal ailments – the result of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 presidential political campaign – implied it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is highly critical. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It could be terrible,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.
When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding four dozen detainees: “That is practically one meter squared per inmate.
“We conversed to the inmates and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the horrible food,” continued the senator.
Supporters Voice Concerns
Lucas is not the lone figure speaking out prior to the former president’s expected imprisonment.
Writing in a leading daily, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its history”.
“It represents an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of millions Brazilian citizens,” the former minister said.
Divided Public Opinion
That may be accurate given the significant backing Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. But his anticipated incarceration has also pleased the spirits of many individuals who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to stop the elected leader from taking power – and additionally conspiring to have him murdered.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the current leader's allied group, stated: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to receive dignified handling – but respectful handling behind bars. He must not carry on being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh treatment of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Just now has the far-right – which has always argued that basic rights should not be for criminals – opted to visit a jail to learn what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.
“Bolsonaro is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, degrading handling”.
Potential Prison Conditions
Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely location appears to be a adjacent prison for law enforcement and other “special” inmates known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more adequate than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro had while residing in the impressive leader's home, about 12 miles away.
Based on reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 sq metre bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter veranda. “He could be permitted to have a TV and even a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were donated by his relatives,” sources suggested.
Ideological Comments
The lawmaker denounced the speculated plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his outcome in the {