Jailhouse Surprise: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Time in Prison
He fought the law and the legal system triumphed.
Sixty days after receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “destroy” Brazil’s political system, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally appears headed to prison.
Anticipated Jailing
The found-guilty instigator – who's been living under home confinement in his residence while a number of legal procedures and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the next few days, during mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a notorious maximum security penitentiary.
Previous Statements on Convicts
During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the right-wing ex- military man showed little mercy for Brazil’s prison population.
“Why should we give those scoundrels a easy time?” he once mused. “They should just get messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to finish in prison, the only thing required is not rape, kidnap or rob.”
Prison Facility Speculation
But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified allies, a group of four this week visited the prison in an obvious effort to discourage the high court from banishing him there.
The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, said he expected the septuagenarian figure to be jailed in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal problems – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the last political campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is highly critical. He cannot to cope if they send him to Papuda … It could be awful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells holding 40 detainees: “It's virtually one square metre per inmate.
“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible food,” added the senator.
Supporters Speak Out
Lucas is not the lone figure expressing views ahead of the one-time head of state's expected detention.
Penning in a major publication, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the largest wrong in its history”.
“It represents an injustice that erodes the hearts of many of Brazilians,” he stated.
Mixed Popular Response
This could be correct due to the significant backing Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. But his expected jailing has also warmed the spirits of many others who believe he should be jailed for conspiring to block the incoming president from becoming president – and also conspiring to have him murdered.
Reimont Otoni, a representative for the incumbent president's allied group, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to get respectful care – but respectful handling in prison. He cannot carry on being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the harsh conditions of inmates, had suddenly become aware to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always asserted that civil liberties should not be for criminals – decided to visit a jail to find out what conditions are truly like,” he remarked.
“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, insulting treatment”.
Potential Prison Facilities
Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently contains about 14,000 prisoners, his probable location seems to be a adjacent prison for law enforcement and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, about 12 miles away.
As per sources, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate occupy in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre terrace. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a television and additionally a small fridge in his room as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” sources suggested.
Political Reactions
The lawmaker criticized the speculated idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his fate in the {