Jailhouse Shock: The Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Faces Time in Prison
He battled justice and the legal system won.
Sixty days subsequent to getting a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now appears destined for incarceration.
Imminent Jailing
The found-guilty coup-monger – who had been under house arrest in his mansion while a number of court processes and petitions unfold – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst mounting rumors that he will be moved to a notorious top-security penitentiary.
Past Comments on Convicts
During Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative ex- paratrooper exhibited minimal mercy for the country's prison population.
“Why should we give those scoundrels a good life?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be screwed, period. That's my opinion.”
At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to finish in prison, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”
Jail Facility Debate
However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, four of whom this week toured the prison in an seeming attempt to discourage the high court from banishing him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, claimed he expected the elderly politician to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe gut issues – the result of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 election race – signified it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to manage if they send him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also worried about cramped cells and the condition of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding four dozen inmates: “That is virtually one meter squared per inmate.
“We talked to the inmates and they protest, of course, of the horrible food,” continued the senator.
Supporters Speak Out
Lucas is not the sole person expressing views prior to the ex-leader's predicted detention.
Writing in a prominent newspaper, a different supporter, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the greatest political injustice in its record”.
“It represents an injustice that gnaws the souls of many people in Brazil,” he stated.
Mixed Public Response
It is possibly correct given the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated jailing has also pleased the spirits of millions other people who feel he should be jailed for planning to block the elected leader from becoming president – and even conspiring to have him killed.
The lawmaker, a politician for the current administration's allied group, stated: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to get proper care – but dignified treatment in prison. He can’t persist being his own prison warden for his entire life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long celebrating the tough conditions of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their entitlements. “Just now has the far-right – which has repeatedly asserted that civil liberties should not be for offenders – chosen to tour a jail to discover what conditions are truly like,” he said.
“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, demeaning conduct”.
Potential Jail Environment
Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 prisoners, his expected assigned facility seems to be a close jail for law enforcement and other “particular” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the spectacular leader's home, approximately 12 miles away.
As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – roughly the area of two parking spaces – and includes a 12 square meter WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and also a small fridge in his room as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” sources indicated.
Political Comments
Senator Lucas denounced the talked-about plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his future in the {