Prison Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Time Behind Bars

He contested the law and the legal system won.

Sixty days following being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now looks destined for incarceration.

Imminent Incarceration

The found-guilty instigator – who had been under house arrest in his residence while a series of legal procedures and appeals proceed – is largely predicted to be jailed in the coming days, amid increasing talk that he will be moved to a well-known high-security facility.

Previous Remarks on Convicts

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the right-wing ex- soldier showed minimal mercy for the country's inmates.

“For what reason must we offer those dirtbags a good life?” he once pondered. “They should just get messed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to finish there, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”

Incarceration Facility Discussion

However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified allies, four of whom this week visited the prison in an obvious attempt to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and worried his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal ailments – the outcome of a near-fatal stabbing during the last presidential campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He will not be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he added, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the condition of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating forty detainees: “That is virtually one square meter per detainee.

“We talked to the convicts and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible meals,” added the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the sole person voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s expected imprisonment.

Penning in a prominent newspaper, one more backer, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its record”.

“It is an injustice that eats away the spirits of countless people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Opinion

That may be correct given the considerable support Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his predicted jailing has also gladdened the spirits of millions individuals who feel he should be incarcerated for planning to block his successor from assuming office – and also plotting to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the incumbent administration's political party, stated: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to get proper handling – but respectful handling in prison. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years praising the harsh treatment of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has consistently claimed that civil liberties were not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are actually like,” he remarked.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, degrading handling”.

Likely Jail Environment

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently houses about fourteen thousand detainees, his more likely location seems to be a nearby prison for law enforcement and other “unique” inmates called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the stunning leader's home, about 20 kilometers away.

As per sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the size of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 sq metre bathroom with a shower and a 12 square meter terrace. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and even a small fridge in his cell as long as they were supplied by his family,” the report indicated.

Partisan Comments

The lawmaker denounced the speculated idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his future in the {