Prison Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison
He fought the legal system and justice won.
Two months after receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears headed to prison.
Imminent Imprisonment
The adjudicated coup-monger – who's been living under home confinement in his mansion while a series of court processes and petitions play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, during mounting talk that he will be sent to a well-known top-security facility.
Past Comments on Convicts
During Bolsonaro’s long political career, the right-wing former soldier showed scant compassion for the country's inmates.
“Why should we give these scoundrels a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They should just get screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”
At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to finish in prison, you simply need is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”
Prison Destination Speculation
But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, four of whom this week visited the facility in an apparent effort to dissuade the judiciary from transferring him there.
The senator, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, said he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the result of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 presidential political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.
When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells containing forty detainees: “That is virtually one square metre per prisoner.
“We spoke to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the awful meals,” added the senator.
Backers Voice Concerns
The senator isn't the sole person expressing views before the former president’s predicted imprisonment.
Writing in a prominent daily, a different supporter, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest wrong in its past”.
“It represents an injustice that gnaws the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” he stated.
Divided Popular Response
This could be correct given the significant backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his expected jailing has also gladdened the spirits of millions others who believe he should be jailed for plotting to block the incoming president from becoming president – and additionally conspiring to have him assassinated.
Congressman Otoni, a congressman for the current president's political party, said: “No one wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to obtain respectful handling – but dignified treatment in prison. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time applauding the harsh handling of inmates, had unexpectedly realized to their rights. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that civil liberties are not for offenders – opted to tour a prison to find out what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.
“The former president is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading conduct”.
Potential Incarceration Environment
Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about fourteen thousand detainees, his probable assigned facility appears to be a nearby jail for officers and other “unique” inmates called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
The accommodations are much more adequate than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the spectacular leader's home, around 12 miles away.
Based on reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – about the area of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 sq metre WC with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a set and additionally a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” information stated.
Political Comments
Senator Lucas condemned the rumoured proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his outcome in the {