Prison Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars
He fought justice and justice won.
A couple of months subsequent to being handed a 27-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s political system, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks destined for incarceration.
Expected Jailing
The found-guilty coup-monger – who had been subject to home confinement in his residence while a series of court processes and challenges proceed – is largely predicted to be jailed in the next few days, during growing speculation that he will be transferred to a infamous maximum security prison.
Previous Comments on Inmates
During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the conservative former military man showed little mercy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“What’s the need to give these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, period. That's my opinion.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, the only thing required is not rape, abduction or rob.”
Incarceration Destination Speculation
However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, several of whom this week toured the facility in an obvious effort to discourage the high court from sending him there.
The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old leader to be jailed in the coming fortnight and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute gut ailments – the consequence of a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 political campaign – signified it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the quality of jail cuisine.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells accommodating 40 detainees: “It's practically one meter squared per detainee.
“We talked to the convicts and they complain, of course, of the awful meals,” continued the senator.
Backers React
Lucas is not the sole person speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's predicted detention.
Writing in a major publication, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its past”.
“It represents an unfairness that eats away the spirits of many Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.
Mixed Popular Response
This could be accurate considering the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. However his predicted imprisonment has also warmed the hearts of millions others who feel he deserves to be incarcerated for planning to prevent the elected leader from becoming president – and also scheming to have him murdered.
Reimont Otoni, a representative for the incumbent administration's political party, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to get dignified treatment – but respectful handling in prison. He must not carry on being his personal jailer for his entire life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the harsh treatment of inmates, had abruptly realized to their rights. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that civil liberties should not be for criminals – opted to visit a jail to discover what situations are truly like,” he said.
“He is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, insulting conduct”.
Likely Prison Environment
Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently houses about thousands of inmates, his more likely location appears to be a adjacent prison for police officers and other “unique” detainees called Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
Its cells are far more adequate than those in the main prison, although still a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the impressive leader's home, around a short distance away.
As per sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – approximately the size of two parking spaces – and includes a 12 square meter bathroom with a bathing area and a 130 square foot terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a set and even a minibar in his quarters as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” the report suggested.
Ideological Responses
He condemned the rumoured plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his future in the {