Prison Shock: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He battled the law and justice prevailed.
A couple of months after being handed a 27-year sentence for attempting to “eradicate” the nation's political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now appears headed to prison.
Expected Incarceration
The convicted instigator – who's been subject to house arrest in his estate while a series of judicial steps and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the near future, during increasing rumors that he will be sent to a infamous high-security penitentiary.
Past Remarks on Prisoners
During Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative former paratrooper exhibited little compassion for the country's jailed individuals.
“For what reason must we provide these dirtbags a easy time?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, end of story. That's my view.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to finish there, all you have to do is not rape, abduction or theft.”
Jail Location Debate
Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, four of whom this week visited the facility in an apparent bid to dissuade the high court from banishing him there.
Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, claimed he expected the elderly politician to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the result of a almost deadly knife attack during the last election race – meant it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the condition of inmate food.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “It's virtually one meter squared per detainee.
“We talked to the prisoners and they grumble, naturally, of the horrible meals,” remarked the senator.
Backers Speak Out
The senator isn't the lone figure voicing opinions before the one-time head of state's expected detention.
Authoring in a major publication, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to see “the largest unfairness in its history”.
“It is an wrong that eats away the souls of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.
Varied General Opinion
This could be accurate given the substantial following Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his anticipated imprisonment has also gladdened the feelings of numerous others who believe he ought to be imprisoned for planning to block the incoming president from taking power – and even scheming to have him killed.
Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the sitting leader's political party, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. No one wants Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to get respectful handling – but proper treatment in prison. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years applauding the severe conditions of prisoners, had abruptly become aware to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that civil liberties are not for criminals – decided to visit a prison to learn what situations are truly like,” he said.
“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, demeaning conduct”.
Likely Prison Facilities
Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently houses about 14,000 prisoners, his more likely location seems to be a close jail for police officers and other “special” prisoners called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro had while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, about a short distance away.
According to sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – approximately the area of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot WC with a bathing area and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a set and also a cooler in his room as long as they were donated by his family,” information stated.
Political Reactions
He denounced the rumoured idea to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his fate in the {