Prison Shock: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He battled justice and the law prevailed.
A couple of months after being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally looks destined for incarceration.
Imminent Imprisonment
The adjudicated instigator – who had been subject to house arrest in his estate while a series of court processes and petitions play out – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, during mounting speculation that he will be moved to a notorious high-security prison.
Historical Statements on Prisoners
Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the far-right ex- military man exhibited scant compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“For what reason must we give these dirtbags a good life?” he once pondered. “They should just get messed, end of story. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to end up there, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
Jail Facility Discussion
But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious attempt to dissuade the high court from transferring him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, said he anticipated the elderly politician to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal problems – the outcome of a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential political campaign – signified it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the condition of inmate food.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating four dozen detainees: “That’s almost one square meter per inmate.
“We conversed to the prisoners and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible food,” continued the senator.
Supporters Voice Concerns
He is not the sole person voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s anticipated detention.
Authoring in a prominent newspaper, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest wrong in its record”.
“It is an wrong that eats away the souls of millions people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.
Divided Public Reaction
This could be accurate given the significant backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated jailing has also pleased the feelings of numerous others who believe he should be jailed for plotting to stop his successor from becoming president – and also scheming to have him assassinated.
Congressman Otoni, a politician for the incumbent leader's Workers’ party, commented: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to obtain respectful handling – but dignified handling behind bars. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have spent years celebrating the harsh handling of convicts, had unexpectedly realized to their entitlements. “Only now has the far-right – which has always claimed that human rights should not be for offenders – opted to visit a prison to discover what situations are truly like,” he said.
“He is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, insulting treatment”.
Possible Jail Conditions
In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently holds about fourteen thousand detainees, his probable location appears to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “special” inmates known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although still a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the stunning presidential palace, around a short distance away.
Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the size of vehicle spaces – and contains a 130 square foot WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a TV and also a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources suggested.
Political Reactions
He criticized the speculated proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his future in the {