Jailhouse Surprise: The Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Time Behind Bars

He contested the legal system and the legal system prevailed.

Sixty days following receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last seems destined for incarceration.

Expected Incarceration

The adjudicated plotter – who's been living under house arrest in his residence while a set of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is widely expected to be jailed in the next few days, during increasing rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious top-security prison.

Historical Comments on Convicts

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the far-right ex- soldier showed minimal compassion for the country's prison population.

“For what reason must we provide those lowlifes a good life?” he once mused. “They should just get screwed, period. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish in prison, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Facility Discussion

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified allies, four of whom this week visited the complex in an obvious attempt to discourage the high court from sending him there.

The senator, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, claimed he anticipated the elderly leader to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive issues – the consequence of a life-threatening assault during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is highly critical. He won’t be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the quality of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells containing four dozen detainees: “It's virtually one meter squared per detainee.

“We talked to the convicts and they protest, of course, of the awful meals,” added the senator.

Backers Speak Out

He is not the only voice voicing opinions before the ex-leader's predicted imprisonment.

Authoring in a major publication, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest unfairness in its history”.

“It is an unfairness that erodes the souls of millions people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.

Varied Public Reaction

It is possibly accurate given the significant following Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. But his expected jailing has also warmed the spirits of numerous others who believe he deserves to be imprisoned for plotting to stop the incoming president from assuming office – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the incumbent president's allied group, commented: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. No one desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to get respectful care – but dignified treatment behind bars. He cannot continue being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the severe conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their entitlements. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that basic rights are not for lawbreakers – opted to inspect a penitentiary to learn what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, demeaning conduct”.

Likely Incarceration Environment

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 inmates, his probable assigned facility seems to be a adjacent jail for officers and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are much more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the impressive presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

As per reports, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – about the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter restroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “He could be permitted to have a set and even a minibar in his room as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information stated.

Ideological Reactions

The lawmaker denounced the speculated idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his outcome in the {

Brianna Garcia
Brianna Garcia

Wildlife biologist with a focus on sloth ecology, passionate about conservation and environmental education.