Prison Surprise: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Time Behind Bars

He fought the legal system and the law triumphed.

Two months following being handed a 27-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” the nation's political system, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro at last seems destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Jailing

The found-guilty plotter – who has been subject to residential detention in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and appeals unfold – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the coming days, during growing talk that he will be moved to a well-known top-security penitentiary.

Historical Statements on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the right-wing ex- paratrooper exhibited scant mercy for the country's inmates.

“What’s the need to provide those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They should just get messed, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”

At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to wind up there, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Prison Destination Speculation

However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, several of whom this week visited the facility in an seeming attempt to prevent the high court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, stated he predicted the elderly leader to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal problems – the result of a almost deadly stabbing during the 2018 election race – signified it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is very grave. He will not be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It will be awful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the condition of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells holding forty prisoners: “It's almost one square metre per inmate.

“We talked to the prisoners and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the awful cuisine,” added the senator.

Backers React

He is not the lone figure expressing views before the former president’s expected incarceration.

Penning in a major publication, a different supporter, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to see “the greatest wrong in its history”.

“This is an wrong that gnaws the souls of many people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided Public Reaction

This could be accurate due to the significant following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. But his expected jailing has also pleased the spirits of millions other people who think he deserves to be jailed for plotting to block the elected leader from taking power – and additionally scheming to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the incumbent administration's political party, said: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to receive proper handling – but proper treatment behind bars. He cannot persist being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh conditions of prisoners, had suddenly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has repeatedly argued that civil liberties were not for offenders – chosen to visit a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are really like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, degrading handling”.

Potential Jail Conditions

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about thousands of inmates, his more likely assigned facility looks to be a nearby jail for officers and other “particular” prisoners known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are much more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although still a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while living in the stunning official residence, about 12 miles away.

According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – about the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre balcony. “He could be allowed to have a set and even a minibar in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” sources suggested.

Political Reactions

He denounced the rumoured idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his outcome in the {

Micheal Cain
Micheal Cain

Cybersecurity specialist with over a decade of experience in digital privacy and data protection strategies.