Jailhouse Surprise: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He fought the law and justice prevailed.
Two months after being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally looks headed to prison.
Anticipated Imprisonment
The found-guilty coup-monger – who had been subject to residential detention in his residence while a set of court processes and appeals proceed – is largely predicted to be incarcerated in the coming days, during increasing talk that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security penitentiary.
Previous Comments on Convicts
Throughout Bolsonaro’s long public life, the right-wing ex- soldier showed scant mercy for the country's prison population.
“What’s the need to provide those dirtbags a easy time?” he once mused. “They should just get fucked, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
Prison Location Speculation
Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, four of whom this week toured the facility in an seeming attempt to dissuade the supreme court from transferring him there.
Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, stated he predicted the septuagenarian figure to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute gut ailments – the result of a life-threatening stabbing during the last election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing four dozen detainees: “It's virtually one square meter per inmate.
“We spoke to the prisoners and they grumble, of course, of the terrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.
Supporters React
He is not the only voice voicing opinions before the ex-leader's expected incarceration.
Writing in a leading newspaper, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and alleged Brazil was about to see “the biggest unfairness in its record”.
“It is an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.
Mixed General Response
That may be accurate considering the considerable backing Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated incarceration has also gladdened the hearts of numerous individuals who believe he deserves to be incarcerated for plotting to block the incoming president from taking power – and also conspiring to have him murdered.
Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting administration's allied group, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to get proper care – but proper treatment behind bars. He cannot carry on being his own prison warden for his whole life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh conditions of convicts, had abruptly become aware to their privileges. “Recently has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that civil liberties should not be for lawbreakers – chosen to inspect a prison to find out what situations are actually like,” he remarked.
“The former president is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, demeaning handling”.
Possible Jail Conditions
In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about thousands of prisoners, his more likely location looks to be a nearby prison for law enforcement and other “special” detainees called Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the stunning official residence, about a short distance away.
As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – approximately the area of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 sq metre WC with a water facility and a 12 square meter balcony. “He could be permitted to have a television and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information suggested.
Political Reactions
Senator Lucas condemned the rumoured proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his fate in the {