Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Time in Prison
He battled the legal system and justice won.
Sixty days after receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears destined for incarceration.
Expected Incarceration
The convicted coup-monger – who's been subject to house arrest in his residence while a set of legal procedures and petitions play out – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the next few days, amid increasing rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious top-security penitentiary.
Historical Statements on Prisoners
During Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the conservative former soldier showed little sympathy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“What’s the need to provide those scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be fucked, end of story. That's my opinion.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to finish behind bars, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
Prison Destination Discussion
Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, several of whom this week inspected the prison in an seeming bid to discourage the judiciary from sending him there.
Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, said he anticipated the septuagenarian politician to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive issues – the consequence of a near-fatal stabbing during the last election race – implied it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He cannot to manage if they take him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “That’s practically one square metre per inmate.
“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the horrible meals,” added the senator.
Backers Speak Out
The senator isn't the lone figure speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated imprisonment.
Penning in a leading newspaper, another ally, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to see “the biggest unfairness in its history”.
“It is an wrong that gnaws the souls of millions Brazilian citizens,” the former minister said.
Mixed Popular Response
This could be true given the substantial following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. But his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the hearts of millions others who feel he ought to be imprisoned for plotting to stop the incoming president from becoming president – and even scheming to have him murdered.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the sitting administration's political party, commented: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to receive dignified handling – but respectful handling in prison. He must not persist being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the tough treatment of convicts, had abruptly woken up to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly argued that basic rights were not for offenders – chosen to visit a jail to discover what circumstances are actually like,” he remarked.
“The former president is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, degrading handling”.
Likely Prison Facilities
Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently houses about fourteen thousand detainees, his probable location looks to be a close prison for law enforcement and other “unique” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are much more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro had while living in the stunning official residence, approximately a short distance away.
As per reports, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and features a 130 square foot restroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a television and even a minibar in his room as long as they were provided by his family,” information indicated.
Partisan Comments
Senator Lucas condemned the speculated proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his future in the {