Jailhouse Surprise: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Time Behind Bars
He contested the law and the legal system prevailed.
Two months after being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks headed to prison.
Anticipated Incarceration
The convicted instigator – who has been under house arrest in his mansion while a set of judicial steps and petitions play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst increasing speculation that he will be sent to a well-known top-security prison.
Past Remarks on Prisoners
Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the far-right former paratrooper displayed minimal compassion for the country's inmates.
“What’s the need to offer these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They should just get screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid rape, kidnap or theft.”
Incarceration Location Debate
But the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, several of whom this week visited the facility in an apparent bid to dissuade the judiciary from sending him there.
Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, stated he expected the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal issues – the outcome of a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He cannot to cope if they send him to Papuda … It could be awful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells accommodating forty detainees: “That is practically one square meter per inmate.
“We spoke to the prisoners and they protest, unsurprisingly, of the horrible meals,” remarked the senator.
Backers Voice Concerns
He is not the only voice expressing views ahead of the one-time head of state's expected detention.
Penning in a prominent newspaper, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its past”.
“It is an unfairness that gnaws the souls of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.
Varied Popular Reaction
It is possibly correct due to the considerable backing Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. Yet his predicted imprisonment has also gladdened the spirits of millions individuals who feel he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to block the incoming president from assuming office – and also plotting to have him killed.
Congressman Otoni, a politician for the current president's Workers’ party, commented: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to receive dignified care – but respectful handling in prison. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have long celebrating the tough conditions of inmates, had unexpectedly realized to their rights. “Only now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly claimed that basic rights are not for criminals – chosen to inspect a prison to learn what circumstances are really like,” he said.
“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading treatment”.
Potential Prison Conditions
Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently contains about 14,000 inmates, his expected destination appears to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “particular” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
His potential cell are much more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although still a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the impressive presidential palace, approximately 12 miles away.
According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate occupy in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – about the area of a couple of car spots – and contains a 130 square foot bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre terrace. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a set and also a cooler in his quarters as long as they were provided by his family,” the report indicated.
Political Responses
He denounced the talked-about plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his future in the {