Prison Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison
He contested the law and justice triumphed.
A couple of months following getting a 27-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now looks jail-bound.
Imminent Incarceration
The convicted coup-monger – who has been subject to home confinement in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the next few days, amidst growing rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security penitentiary.
Previous Comments on Inmates
Over Bolsonaro’s long public life, the conservative ex- soldier displayed little mercy for the country's jailed individuals.
“What’s the need to offer these dirtbags a easy time?” he once mused. “They deserve to be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to wind up behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or rob.”
Jail Facility Debate
But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, a group of four this week inspected the complex in an apparent effort to prevent the judiciary from sending him there.
Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, stated he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and was concerned his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal problems – the result of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is highly critical. He will not be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also worried about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing four dozen detainees: “That is practically one square metre per detainee.
“We spoke to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible meals,” continued the senator.
Supporters Voice Concerns
Lucas is not the only voice speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated imprisonment.
Writing in a prominent newspaper, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its history”.
“It is an unfairness that gnaws the spirits of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.
Mixed Public Opinion
It is possibly true given the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. But his expected incarceration has also warmed the feelings of many other people who believe he should be jailed for conspiring to stop his successor from taking power – and also plotting to have him killed.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the current president's allied group, stated: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to get dignified treatment – but dignified treatment in prison. He cannot carry on being his personal jailer for his entire life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years praising the harsh treatment of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their rights. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has always asserted that civil liberties were not for criminals – decided to visit a prison to find out what circumstances are really like,” he remarked.
“He is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, insulting conduct”.
Potential Incarceration Facilities
In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now houses about 14,000 inmates, his probable assigned facility looks to be a adjacent jail for law enforcement and other “particular” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although still a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, around a short distance away.
As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – approximately the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 sq metre WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot terrace. “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 loved ones,” information indicated.
Ideological Responses
The lawmaker denounced the speculated idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {