Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He contested justice and justice prevailed.
A couple of months after being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “eradicate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now seems jail-bound.
Expected Incarceration
The found-guilty instigator – who's been living under residential detention in his estate while a number of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amid mounting rumors that he will be moved to a well-known high-security facility.
Historical Comments on Prisoners
Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the right-wing former military man exhibited minimal compassion for the country's prison population.
“For what reason must we give those dirtbags a good life?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be fucked, period. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to end up there, the only thing required is not rape, kidnap or theft.”
Prison Location Discussion
Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, a group of four this week toured the prison in an seeming attempt to discourage the supreme court from banishing him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, said he expected the 70-year-old leader to be jailed in the next 10 days and worried his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal problems – the result of a almost deadly knife attack during the 2018 presidential campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating four dozen detainees: “That’s almost one square meter per detainee.
“We talked to the prisoners and they protest, of course, of the horrible food,” continued the senator.
Backers Speak Out
Lucas is not the lone figure speaking out ahead of the ex-leader's predicted detention.
Penning in a major newspaper, another ally, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest unfairness in its record”.
“This is an wrong that eats away the souls of countless people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.
Mixed Public Reaction
It is possibly correct given the substantial backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. But his predicted incarceration has also gladdened the spirits of many others who feel he should be incarcerated for plotting to prevent the elected leader from taking power – and even scheming to have him killed.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the current leader's allied group, commented: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to get dignified care – but proper treatment behind bars. He can’t continue being his personal jailer for his entire life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have long praising the severe handling of inmates, had abruptly realized to their rights. “Recently has the far-right – which has always claimed that basic rights are not for criminals – chosen to visit a jail to learn what situations are actually like,” he said.
“The former president is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, insulting conduct”.
Possible Jail Facilities
Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently contains about thousands of prisoners, his probable location looks to be a adjacent penitentiary for police officers and other “particular” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the impressive official residence, around a short distance away.
Based on information, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – approximately the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter balcony. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a television and even a cooler in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” the report suggested.
Partisan Comments
He condemned the rumoured plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his fate in the {