Prison Shock: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Time Behind Bars

He contested the legal system and justice prevailed.

Sixty days following receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks jail-bound.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted instigator – who has been under house arrest in his residence while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the coming days, amidst increasing speculation that he will be moved to a well-known maximum security prison.

Previous Statements on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the conservative ex- paratrooper displayed scant sympathy for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to provide those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be screwed, period. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to wind up in prison, all you have to do is not rape, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Location Discussion

But the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, a group of four this week inspected the facility in an apparent attempt to discourage the high court from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, claimed he expected the elderly leader to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe gut issues – the consequence of a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential campaign – signified it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is very grave. He won’t be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the quality of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells holding forty inmates: “That’s virtually one meter squared per prisoner.

“We spoke to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the awful meals,” remarked the senator.

Backers Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the sole person voicing opinions before the one-time head of state's expected detention.

Authoring in a leading publication, another ally, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its past”.

“It is an wrong that eats away the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Varied General Opinion

This could be true given the substantial backing Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. Yet his anticipated incarceration has also gladdened the hearts of many others who believe he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to block the elected leader from becoming president – and also plotting to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current administration's political party, said: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get proper handling – but dignified treatment behind bars. He cannot continue being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have long praising the severe conditions of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly argued that civil liberties are not for lawbreakers – opted to inspect a jail to find out what situations are really like,” he said.

“The former president is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, demeaning handling”.

Potential Incarceration Conditions

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now houses about thousands of prisoners, his more likely location appears to be a close jail for law enforcement and other “particular” prisoners known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are much more adequate than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the stunning official residence, about 12 miles away.

As per information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – approximately the size of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 square meter WC with a water facility and a 12 square meter veranda. “He could be allowed to have a TV and also a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were provided by his family,” the report stated.

Partisan Comments

The lawmaker criticized the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {

Austin Smith
Austin Smith

A tech writer and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in analyzing online trends and emerging technologies.