Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars

He battled justice and the law prevailed.

A couple of months subsequent to being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears destined for incarceration.

Imminent Incarceration

The convicted plotter – who has been under home confinement in his estate while a number of court processes and challenges play out – is largely predicted to be incarcerated in the near future, amidst increasing speculation that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security prison.

Historical Statements on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right former military man showed little compassion for Brazil’s inmates.

“For what reason must we provide these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to finish behind bars, the only thing required is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”

Incarceration Facility Speculation

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, four of whom this week inspected the facility in an obvious effort to dissuade the supreme court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, stated he expected the 70-year-old politician to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut ailments – the outcome of a almost deadly stabbing during the last presidential campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He will not be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the standard of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted seeing cells containing forty prisoners: “That’s practically one meter squared per prisoner.

“We spoke to the convicts and they protest, unsurprisingly, of the terrible food,” added the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the only voice speaking out before the former president’s predicted detention.

Penning in a leading daily, a different supporter, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest unfairness in its past”.

“It is an wrong that gnaws the spirits of millions people in Brazil,” he stated.

Divided General Response

It is possibly true given the considerable following Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his predicted incarceration has also gladdened the hearts of many individuals who think he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to stop the elected leader from assuming office – and even conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the current administration's allied group, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to obtain respectful handling – but proper care while incarcerated. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years praising the severe conditions of prisoners, had unexpectedly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that civil liberties were not for lawbreakers – opted to inspect a penitentiary to discover what conditions are actually like,” he said.

“He is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, demeaning treatment”.

Possible Jail Environment

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now contains about 14,000 detainees, his probable location looks to be a nearby penitentiary for officers and other “special” detainees called Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are much more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the spectacular presidential palace, about 12 miles away.

Based on reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 sq metre WC with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and also a small fridge in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Partisan Responses

He condemned the talked-about proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his future in the {

Donald Valencia
Donald Valencia

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