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

He battled the law and justice won.

Sixty days subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems headed to prison.

Imminent Jailing

The adjudicated coup-monger – who had been under house arrest in his estate while a set of court processes and appeals play out – is largely predicted to be jailed in the coming days, during mounting speculation that he will be sent to a notorious high-security prison.

Previous Comments on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the right-wing former soldier displayed scant sympathy for the country's inmates.

“For what reason must we offer these scoundrels a easy time?” he once pondered. “They should just get fucked, period. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, kidnap or theft.”

Incarceration Destination Debate

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious bid to dissuade the judiciary from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, said he anticipated the septuagenarian figure to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and was concerned his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the outcome of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is highly critical. He cannot to manage if they send him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he added, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the standard of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating forty detainees: “That’s practically one square metre per prisoner.

“We spoke to the convicts and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible food,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

He is not the sole person expressing views before the one-time head of state's predicted imprisonment.

Penning in a major daily, another ally, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its record”.

“It represents an injustice that eats away the spirits of countless of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Opinion

This could be correct considering the considerable following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. However his predicted jailing has also warmed the feelings of numerous other people who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for conspiring to prevent his successor from becoming president – and additionally plotting to have him killed.

The lawmaker, a politician for the current leader's allied group, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Nobody wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to receive proper treatment – but dignified care while incarcerated. He must not continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the severe conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the far-right – which has consistently claimed that human rights should not be for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a jail to discover what situations are actually like,” he said.

“The former president is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, degrading conduct”.

Potential Incarceration Facilities

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently holds about thousands of detainees, his expected destination looks to be a nearby jail for law enforcement and other “special” detainees known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are much more adequate than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the spectacular leader's home, around 20 kilometers away.

As per reports, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – roughly the dimensions of two parking spaces – and contains a 130 square foot restroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a television and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Political Comments

He condemned the speculated idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {

Lisa Galloway
Lisa Galloway

A passionate storyteller and digital content creator with a background in creative writing and journalism.