Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He fought the legal system and the law prevailed.
A couple of months after being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro at last appears destined for incarceration.
Anticipated Incarceration
The found-guilty coup-monger – who's been subject to home confinement in his residence while a number of legal procedures and petitions unfold – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the near future, during increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a notorious maximum security prison.
Previous Comments on Convicts
During Bolsonaro’s long public life, the far-right former paratrooper exhibited scant mercy for the country's prison population.
“Why should we give these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They should just get messed, period. That’s what I reckon.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to finish in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”
Prison Facility Speculation
Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, a group of four this week visited the complex in an seeming effort to dissuade the supreme court from banishing him there.
Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he expected the septuagenarian figure to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the result of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 election race – signified it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is very grave. He cannot to cope if they send him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” he added, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the condition of jail cuisine.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells accommodating 40 inmates: “That is almost one square metre per prisoner.
“We spoke to the convicts and they protest, naturally, of the horrible meals,” remarked the senator.
Allies Speak Out
The senator isn't the sole person speaking out before the former president’s predicted imprisonment.
Authoring in a major daily, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest political injustice in its record”.
“This is an unfairness that eats away the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.
Divided General Reaction
That may be true considering the considerable support Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. However his expected jailing has also gladdened the spirits of many others who feel he ought to be incarcerated for plotting to stop the incoming president from becoming president – and even scheming to have him assassinated.
The lawmaker, a politician for the current president's allied group, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to obtain respectful treatment – but proper care in prison. He can’t carry on being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long applauding the harsh conditions of prisoners, had suddenly woken up to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that basic rights should not be for lawbreakers – chosen to inspect a penitentiary to discover what circumstances are really like,” he said.
“The former president is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, insulting handling”.
Possible Jail Facilities
Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 detainees, his expected location looks to be a nearby prison for officers and other “unique” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
His potential cell are much more pleasant than those in the main prison, although still a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the impressive leader's home, around 12 miles away.
According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – about the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 130 square foot WC with a shower and a 12 square meter veranda. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and even a minibar in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources indicated.
Partisan Responses
He denounced the talked-about plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his fate in the {