Jailhouse Surprise: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Life in Prison

He battled the law and the legal system won.

Two months after receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Imminent Jailing

The adjudicated plotter – who has been under home confinement in his mansion while a set of legal procedures and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the coming days, during increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known high-security penitentiary.

Previous Comments on Prisoners

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the conservative ex- soldier displayed little sympathy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we give these scoundrels a good life?” he previously wondered. “They should just get fucked, period. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to finish there, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Jail Location Debate

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, a group of four this week toured the facility in an obvious effort to discourage the judiciary from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, said he expected the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal ailments – the outcome of a near-fatal knife attack during the last political campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is extremely serious. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells accommodating 40 detainees: “It's virtually one square metre per inmate.

“We talked to the prisoners and they protest, unsurprisingly, of the terrible meals,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the only voice voicing opinions before the one-time head of state's expected incarceration.

Writing in a major daily, one more backer, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its history”.

“It represents an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of many Brazilian citizens,” the former minister said.

Divided Popular Reaction

It is possibly correct considering the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his predicted jailing has also pleased the hearts of millions other people who feel he ought to be imprisoned for plotting to prevent his successor from assuming office – and even scheming to have him killed.

The lawmaker, a representative for the sitting president's Workers’ party, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. Nobody desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to obtain proper care – but respectful care in prison. He can’t continue being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years applauding the tough handling of convicts, had abruptly become aware to their entitlements. “Only now has the far-right – which has repeatedly asserted that civil liberties should not be for lawbreakers – opted to inspect a prison to learn what situations are truly like,” he remarked.

“He is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, demeaning treatment”.

Potential Jail Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now houses about thousands of detainees, his probable destination looks to be a adjacent penitentiary for police officers and other “unique” prisoners known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more pleasant than those in the main prison, although still a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the impressive presidential palace, about 12 miles away.

As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – approximately the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 sq metre bathroom with a shower and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a TV and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” information stated.

Ideological Comments

He criticized the talked-about plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his outcome in the {

Elizabeth King
Elizabeth King

Elena is an environmental scientist and sustainable living advocate with over a decade of experience in eco-friendly home design and urban gardening.