Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He fought the legal system and the law triumphed.
A couple of months after being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks jail-bound.
Anticipated Jailing
The adjudicated coup-monger – who had been living under residential detention in his estate while a set of court processes and petitions unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, during growing rumors that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security prison.
Historical Comments on Convicts
During Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the far-right former paratrooper displayed little compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“What’s the need to provide these scoundrels a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, end of story. That's my opinion.”
At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to wind up in prison, all you have to do is not sexual assault, abduction or rob.”
Prison Destination Speculation
Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, a group of four this week inspected the facility in an obvious attempt to dissuade the supreme court from sending him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, said he predicted the 70-year-old leader to be jailed in the coming fortnight and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the last political campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he added, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “That is almost one square metre per inmate.
“We spoke to the inmates and they protest, unsurprisingly, of the terrible food,” added the senator.
Supporters React
The senator isn't the sole person voicing opinions prior to the former president’s anticipated imprisonment.
Penning in a prominent publication, one more backer, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to see “the largest political injustice in its record”.
“This is an injustice that gnaws the hearts of countless of Brazilians,” the former minister said.
Mixed Public Response
That may be correct given the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his expected jailing has also gladdened the hearts of numerous individuals who believe he should be jailed for planning to prevent his successor from taking power – and even conspiring to have him assassinated.
The lawmaker, a politician for the sitting president's political party, said: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. No one desires Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to receive dignified handling – but respectful care in prison. He cannot persist being his own prison warden for his whole life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the harsh treatment of prisoners, had abruptly woken up to their entitlements. “Recently has the far-right – which has always asserted that basic rights were not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a prison to discover what situations are truly like,” he said.
“The former president is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, insulting conduct”.
Possible Jail Facilities
In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about thousands of prisoners, his expected location appears to be a adjacent jail for officers and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
The accommodations are far more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although still a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the stunning official residence, approximately 12 miles away.
Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – roughly the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a minibar in his room as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” the report stated.
Ideological Responses
The lawmaker condemned the talked-about plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his fate in the {