Jailhouse Surprise: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He battled the legal system and the legal system triumphed.
Two months after getting a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks jail-bound.
Imminent Jailing
The found-guilty instigator – who's been under residential detention in his estate while a series of judicial steps and petitions play out – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, during growing speculation that he will be transferred to a notorious maximum security prison.
Previous Comments on Prisoners
Throughout Bolsonaro’s long public life, the conservative former soldier displayed scant compassion for the country's prison population.
“Why should we provide these dirtbags a good life?” he once mused. “They should just get screwed, end of story. That's my view.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”
Prison Facility Speculation
However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, four of whom this week inspected the complex in an apparent bid to discourage the judiciary from transferring him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, stated he anticipated the 70-year-old leader to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and feared his location could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe digestive issues – the outcome of a life-threatening assault during the last presidential campaign – implied it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His condition is highly critical. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It could be awful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the condition of inmate food.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells containing 40 prisoners: “It's almost one square meter per inmate.
“We conversed to the prisoners and they grumble, of course, of the horrible cuisine,” added the senator.
Allies Speak Out
The senator isn't the sole person speaking out before the former president’s predicted detention.
Penning in a prominent publication, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest political injustice in its history”.
“This is an injustice that erodes the spirits of many people in Brazil,” he stated.
Varied General Opinion
It is possibly true due to the considerable following Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated jailing has also pleased the hearts of numerous other people who think he ought to be imprisoned for planning to stop the elected leader from assuming office – and even plotting to have him murdered.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the incumbent leader's political party, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to get proper treatment – but proper treatment in prison. He cannot continue being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time praising the tough handling of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their rights. “Recently has the extreme right – which has repeatedly argued that civil liberties were not for lawbreakers – decided to tour a prison to discover what conditions are truly like,” he stated.
“Bolsonaro is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, demeaning handling”.
Possible Jail Facilities
Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now contains about thousands of inmates, his probable location appears to be a nearby prison for law enforcement and other “unique” inmates called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
The accommodations are considerably more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the stunning presidential palace, about 12 miles away.
As per sources, the cell Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter WC with a bathing area and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and even a cooler in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” the report stated.
Political Responses
Senator Lucas criticized the speculated proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his outcome in the {