Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Time Behind Bars

He contested justice and the legal system won.

A couple of months following getting a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks destined for incarceration.

Imminent Imprisonment

The adjudicated plotter – who had been living under home confinement in his mansion while a set of court processes and petitions proceed – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, amidst growing rumors that he will be sent to a notorious high-security facility.

Past Comments on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative former soldier exhibited scant sympathy for Brazil’s inmates.

“What’s the need to provide these scoundrels a good life?” he once mused. “They deserve to be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to wind up in prison, you simply need is not rape, kidnap or rob.”

Jail Facility Speculation

However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, four of whom this week visited the prison in an seeming attempt to discourage the high court from banishing him there.

The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, claimed he predicted the elderly politician to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and feared his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut ailments – the result of a almost deadly knife attack during the last election race – signified it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It could be awful,” he added, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the standard of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells holding forty inmates: “That is almost one square metre per inmate.

“We talked to the convicts and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the horrible meals,” added the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the sole person speaking out before the one-time head of state's expected incarceration.

Authoring in a major newspaper, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the largest unfairness in its past”.

“This is an injustice that eats away the souls of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Reaction

This could be correct given the considerable following Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. However his anticipated imprisonment has also pleased the spirits of numerous others who think he ought to be imprisoned for conspiring to block the elected leader from taking power – and additionally plotting to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the sitting leader's allied group, said: “No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to receive dignified handling – but dignified care while incarcerated. He can’t continue being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time praising the severe conditions of prisoners, had suddenly woken up to their entitlements. “Recently has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that civil liberties are not for criminals – chosen to tour a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are truly like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, insulting conduct”.

Likely Prison Environment

Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his probable assigned facility looks to be a adjacent penitentiary for police officers and other “special” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more adequate than those in the larger jail, although still a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the impressive leader's home, around a short distance away.

Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – about the size of a couple of car spots – and contains a 130 square foot WC with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a set and additionally a cooler in his room as long as they were donated by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Partisan Responses

The lawmaker denounced the talked-about plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his future in the {

Christine Walker
Christine Walker

A seasoned gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in the online casino industry, specializing in slot mechanics and player psychology.