Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Time in Prison
He contested the law and justice triumphed.
Two months subsequent to receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for attempting to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears jail-bound.
Imminent Incarceration
The convicted plotter – who's been living under home confinement in his residence while a series of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security penitentiary.
Past Comments on Prisoners
Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the conservative former soldier displayed minimal compassion for the country's inmates.
“Why should we give those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish behind bars, the only thing required is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”
Prison Location Speculation
But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, four of whom this week inspected the complex in an apparent attempt to prevent the supreme court from banishing him there.
Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, stated he predicted the 70-year-old leader to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and feared his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal problems – the outcome of a near-fatal stabbing during the last political campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He will not be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the condition of prison meals.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding forty detainees: “That’s practically one meter squared per inmate.
“We spoke to the prisoners and they complain, of course, of the terrible food,” continued the senator.
Supporters Speak Out
Lucas is not the lone figure voicing opinions ahead of the one-time head of state's expected detention.
Writing in a prominent newspaper, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the biggest wrong in its history”.
“This is an injustice that gnaws the souls of countless Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.
Divided General Response
It is possibly accurate given the substantial support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. But his predicted incarceration has also pleased the hearts of many other people who believe he deserves to be incarcerated for planning to block the elected leader from assuming office – and also conspiring to have him murdered.
Reimont Otoni, a representative for the incumbent leader's allied group, said: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to receive respectful handling – but dignified treatment in prison. He cannot carry on being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time celebrating the severe conditions of inmates, had unexpectedly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that civil liberties are not for criminals – chosen to visit a prison to learn what situations are actually like,” he said.
“He is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, demeaning handling”.
Possible Jail Environment
Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now houses about 14,000 detainees, his more likely assigned facility appears to be a adjacent jail for police officers and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are much more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although still a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro had while occupying the spectacular presidential palace, about 12 miles away.
As per reports, the room Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – about the size of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 square meter bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre veranda. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a TV and additionally a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” the report stated.
Partisan Comments
He condemned the rumoured proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his fate in the {