Prison Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison

He battled the law and the legal system won.

A couple of months after receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now seems destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Jailing

The found-guilty instigator – who had been under house arrest in his mansion while a number of legal procedures and petitions unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst increasing talk that he will be transferred to a well-known high-security prison.

Previous Comments on Inmates

During Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the right-wing ex- military man displayed scant compassion for Brazil’s prison population.

“Why should we offer those lowlifes a good life?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be messed, period. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to finish in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”

Incarceration Facility Discussion

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, four of whom this week visited the complex in an seeming attempt to discourage the judiciary from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, claimed he anticipated the elderly politician to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and was concerned his location could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious digestive ailments – the result of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is highly critical. He cannot to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It could be awful,” he added, who also worried about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells containing forty detainees: “It's practically one meter squared per detainee.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they complain, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Backers Speak Out

Lucas is not the sole person voicing opinions before the ex-leader's expected detention.

Writing in a leading publication, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and alleged Brazil was about to see “the largest unfairness in its past”.

“It is an wrong that erodes the souls of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Varied Popular Opinion

It is possibly true given the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. Yet his predicted imprisonment has also pleased the hearts of many other people who believe he deserves to be incarcerated for plotting to stop his successor from taking power – and even plotting to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a congressman for the sitting administration's political party, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain dignified care – but proper care behind bars. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the severe treatment of inmates, had unexpectedly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that human rights are not for criminals – decided to inspect a jail to discover what situations are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, demeaning conduct”.

Possible Incarceration Conditions

Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely assigned facility appears to be a adjacent penitentiary for officers and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are considerably more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the impressive official residence, around 20 kilometers away.

According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – roughly the area of two parking spaces – and includes a 12 square meter WC with a bathing area and a 130 square foot terrace. “He could be allowed to have a television and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” sources indicated.

Partisan Reactions

Senator Lucas denounced the speculated proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his future in the {