Prison Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He contested the law and the legal system won.
Sixty days after getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.
Imminent Jailing
The convicted plotter – who has been subject to residential detention in his estate while a set of judicial steps and appeals unfold – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst growing talk that he will be sent to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.
Previous Comments on Inmates
During Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the far-right ex- soldier exhibited minimal sympathy for the country's prison population.
“What’s the need to offer these dirtbags a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”
At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish in prison, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”
Incarceration Location Discussion
But the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, a group of four this week visited the facility in an obvious bid to prevent the high court from banishing him there.
The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he expected the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive issues – the result of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 election race – implied it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He won’t be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the standard of inmate food.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells holding 40 prisoners: “That is practically one square metre per inmate.
“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible cuisine,” continued the senator.
Backers Voice Concerns
He is not the only voice speaking out prior to the former president’s anticipated detention.
Penning in a leading publication, a different supporter, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the largest political injustice in its record”.
“This is an injustice that eats away the souls of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.
Mixed Popular Opinion
This could be true given the substantial support Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. However his predicted jailing has also pleased the spirits of millions individuals who feel he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to block his successor from taking power – and also scheming to have him killed.
Reimont Otoni, a representative for the sitting administration's allied group, stated: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. No one wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to receive dignified treatment – but proper care behind bars. He can’t carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have long applauding the severe treatment of prisoners, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Just now has the far-right – which has repeatedly claimed that basic rights are not for offenders – chosen to tour a jail to find out what circumstances are truly like,” he said.
“He is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, insulting treatment”.
Possible Prison Environment
In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about fourteen thousand detainees, his expected assigned facility seems to be a close jail for law enforcement and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
His potential cell are far more comfortable than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro had while residing in the impressive leader's home, about 12 miles away.
Based on sources, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – approximately the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a cooler in his quarters as long as they were donated by his family,” the report indicated.
Ideological Responses
Senator Lucas denounced the talked-about plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his fate in the {