Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Time Behind Bars

He contested the legal system and the law prevailed.

Two months following getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Imprisonment

The convicted instigator – who has been under home confinement in his estate while a number of court processes and challenges proceed – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the next few days, during growing rumors that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security facility.

Previous Comments on Convicts

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the far-right former paratrooper showed little compassion for the country's jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we offer those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to wind up behind bars, the only thing required is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Destination Speculation

But the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, a group of four this week visited the prison in an obvious effort to discourage the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, said he anticipated the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and feared his location could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute gut issues – the outcome of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 presidential election race – signified it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It could be terrible,” he added, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the standard of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells accommodating four dozen detainees: “It's practically one square metre per inmate.

“We talked to the inmates and they protest, of course, of the horrible food,” added the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the lone figure speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's expected imprisonment.

Writing in a leading publication, a different supporter, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest wrong in its past”.

“It is an injustice that erodes the souls of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed Popular Reaction

It is possibly accurate due to the considerable support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his predicted imprisonment has also pleased the feelings of many other people who believe he should be imprisoned for plotting to block the elected leader from becoming president – and additionally scheming to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the incumbent leader's Workers’ party, stated: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to receive proper handling – but proper treatment in prison. He can’t continue being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”

He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time celebrating the severe handling of inmates, had abruptly realized to their entitlements. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has consistently argued that civil liberties should not be for offenders – decided to inspect a jail to learn what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, demeaning treatment”.

Likely Prison Environment

Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently holds about fourteen thousand prisoners, his expected destination looks to be a nearby jail for officers and other “unique” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are far more adequate than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro had while occupying the spectacular presidential palace, about 12 miles away.

Based on sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – approximately the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 square meter bathroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter terrace. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a set and also a small fridge in his cell as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” the report suggested.

Political Reactions

He denounced the rumoured idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his fate in the {