Prison Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Time Behind Bars
He battled the legal system and the legal system triumphed.
Sixty days following getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks headed to prison.
Imminent Imprisonment
The found-guilty plotter – who's been subject to house arrest in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, during growing speculation that he will be transferred to a infamous high-security penitentiary.
Past Statements on Inmates
Over Bolsonaro’s long political career, the right-wing ex- military man showed little sympathy for the country's jailed individuals.
“What’s the need to offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or rob.”
Jail Facility Discussion
But the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, four of whom this week visited the complex in an obvious bid to discourage the judiciary from sending him there.
Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, said he anticipated the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the following week and a half and feared his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious digestive ailments – the result of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is extremely serious. He won’t be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the quality of inmate food.
When inspecting Papuda, Lucas noted seeing cells containing forty detainees: “It's almost one square metre per inmate.
“We spoke to the convicts and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible food,” remarked the senator.
Supporters Voice Concerns
Lucas is not the lone figure expressing views prior to the ex-leader's predicted incarceration.
Authoring in a major daily, one more backer, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its past”.
“It represents an unfairness that eats away the spirits of countless people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.
Varied Public Response
This could be true given the considerable following Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. However his anticipated incarceration has also warmed the feelings of millions others who believe he should be imprisoned for planning to prevent the elected leader from assuming office – and also plotting to have him assassinated.
Congressman Otoni, a politician for the current administration's political party, said: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. No one wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to receive dignified handling – but dignified handling while incarcerated. He cannot persist being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”
Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time celebrating the tough handling of inmates, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Recently has the far-right – which has always argued that human rights were not for criminals – chosen to tour a prison to learn what situations are truly like,” he remarked.
“The former president is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, insulting handling”.
Possible Incarceration Environment
Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his expected destination seems to be a adjacent prison for police officers and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
Its cells are far more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the impressive leader's home, around 12 miles away.
Based on information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter WC with a shower and a 12 sq metre terrace. “He could be authorized to have a TV and even a minibar in his quarters as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information indicated.
Political Comments
He criticized the talked-about proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {