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

He battled justice and the law won.

Sixty days subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last seems headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who has been living under residential detention in his residence while a number of court processes and challenges proceed – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, amid growing talk that he will be sent to a notorious top-security penitentiary.

Previous Remarks on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long public life, the right-wing former soldier displayed minimal sympathy for the country's prison population.

“For what reason must we give these dirtbags a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be messed, period. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to finish in prison, you simply need is not rape, kidnap or rob.”

Jail Facility Discussion

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, four of whom this week inspected the facility in an apparent effort to dissuade the high court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, stated he expected the 70-year-old figure to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe digestive ailments – the consequence of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding four dozen detainees: “That’s virtually one square metre per detainee.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they complain, of course, of the terrible meals,” remarked the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated detention.

Authoring in a prominent newspaper, a different supporter, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its record”.

“It is an wrong that gnaws the souls of many Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed General Opinion

This could be true given the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. Yet his expected incarceration has also warmed the hearts of numerous other people who think he deserves to be jailed for conspiring to stop the elected leader from taking power – and even conspiring to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the incumbent president's allied group, said: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. No one wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to get respectful care – but dignified treatment behind bars. He must not carry on being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time celebrating the tough treatment of prisoners, had suddenly woken up to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always asserted that basic rights were not for criminals – opted to tour a penitentiary to find out what circumstances are actually like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, insulting handling”.

Possible Prison Conditions

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now contains about fourteen thousand inmates, his probable destination seems to be a adjacent penitentiary for law enforcement and other “special” prisoners called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, about a short distance away.

According to sources, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot restroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter terrace. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a TV and even a small fridge in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” sources stated.

Partisan Comments

He denounced the talked-about proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his outcome in the {