Jailhouse Shock: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He fought justice and the law won.
Sixty days after getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks destined for incarceration.
Expected Imprisonment
The convicted coup-monger – who had been under residential detention in his mansion while a set of legal procedures and appeals unfold – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst mounting talk that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security facility.
Historical Comments on Convicts
Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right ex- military man displayed scant mercy for the country's inmates.
“What’s the need to provide those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They should just get fucked, end of story. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to end up behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”
Prison Location Debate
However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, four of whom this week inspected the facility in an seeming effort to discourage the supreme court from sending him there.
Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, stated he predicted the elderly politician to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious gut issues – the outcome of a life-threatening assault during the last presidential campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He will not be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the condition of jail cuisine.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled observing cells holding 40 inmates: “That is virtually one square metre per prisoner.
“We spoke to the prisoners and they grumble, naturally, of the awful meals,” remarked the senator.
Supporters React
The senator isn't the only voice speaking out prior to the former president’s predicted incarceration.
Penning in a prominent daily, a different supporter, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its record”.
“It represents an injustice that gnaws the spirits of millions of Brazilians,” he stated.
Divided Popular Reaction
That may be correct considering the considerable backing Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. Yet his predicted incarceration has also gladdened the spirits of many other people who feel he deserves to be incarcerated for conspiring to stop the elected leader from taking power – and additionally scheming to have him assassinated.
Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the sitting administration's allied group, said: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. No one wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to receive dignified treatment – but proper treatment in prison. He must not carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh conditions of inmates, had unexpectedly woken up to their rights. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has always asserted that human rights are not for criminals – chosen to inspect a jail to discover what situations are really like,” he said.
“He is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, insulting treatment”.
Likely Prison Facilities
Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently houses about thousands of prisoners, his expected location seems to be a adjacent penitentiary for police officers and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
Its cells are far more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while living in the spectacular presidential palace, around 12 miles away.
According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate occupy in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 sq metre bathroom with a shower and a 12 square meter veranda. “He could be authorized to have a television and even a cooler in his room as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” the report indicated.
Partisan Comments
Senator Lucas condemned the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his fate in the {