Prison Shock: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison

He fought the legal system and the law triumphed.

Two months following getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Expected Incarceration

The adjudicated instigator – who's been under home confinement in his residence while a series of court processes and appeals play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the next few days, during growing rumors that he will be transferred to a infamous high-security prison.

Previous Statements on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative ex- military man displayed minimal compassion for Brazil’s prison population.

“For what reason must we provide these lowlifes a good life?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, period. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to finish there, all you have to do is not rape, abduction or rob.”

Incarceration Location Debate

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the facility in an seeming attempt to dissuade the supreme court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, claimed he predicted the septuagenarian leader to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe digestive problems – the outcome of a near-fatal stabbing during the last political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the condition of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding four dozen prisoners: “It's practically one square metre per prisoner.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they protest, naturally, of the awful food,” continued the senator.

Supporters React

He is not the sole person expressing views prior to the one-time head of state's predicted incarceration.

Authoring in a major newspaper, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the largest wrong in its record”.

“It represents an injustice that erodes the hearts of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Divided General Opinion

This could be correct due to the considerable backing Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. Yet his anticipated incarceration has also gladdened the spirits of numerous individuals who feel he ought to be jailed for plotting to block the incoming president from assuming office – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a politician for the sitting president's political party, commented: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to obtain dignified treatment – but proper treatment while incarcerated. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the harsh handling of inmates, had unexpectedly become aware to their entitlements. “Just now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly claimed that human rights are not for criminals – opted to tour a prison to discover what conditions are truly like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, insulting handling”.

Potential Jail Environment

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently contains about thousands of inmates, his expected assigned facility appears to be a nearby prison for police officers and other “unique” inmates called Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are far more adequate than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while living in the spectacular official residence, around 12 miles away.

As per sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the dimensions of two parking spaces – and includes a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a television and also a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” sources stated.

Partisan Comments

The lawmaker denounced the rumoured plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his outcome in the {