Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison
He fought justice and justice triumphed.
Sixty days following being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears headed to prison.
Expected Imprisonment
The convicted plotter – who had been under home confinement in his mansion while a series of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, during growing talk that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security facility.
Previous Comments on Inmates
During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the far-right former paratrooper showed scant compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“Why should we offer those dirtbags a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They should just get screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”
At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, all you have to do is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”
Incarceration Facility Discussion
Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, several of whom this week visited the complex in an obvious effort to dissuade the judiciary from sending him there.
Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, said he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.
Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe gut issues – the result of a life-threatening assault during the 2018 presidential election race – meant it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He won’t be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the quality of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing forty detainees: “That’s almost one meter squared per prisoner.
“We talked to the inmates and they protest, naturally, of the terrible meals,” added the senator.
Backers Speak Out
The senator isn't the only voice speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's predicted imprisonment.
Penning in a prominent daily, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest political injustice in its record”.
“It represents an injustice that gnaws the spirits of countless of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.
Varied General Response
That may be true due to the considerable backing Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. However his anticipated jailing has also pleased the spirits of many others who think he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to prevent the elected leader from becoming president – and additionally conspiring to have him assassinated.
The lawmaker, a politician for the current administration's political party, said: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in isolation. No one wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to get proper treatment – but proper treatment behind bars. He cannot carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long praising the severe handling of convicts, had suddenly realized to their privileges. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has consistently claimed that basic rights were not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a jail to discover what conditions are truly like,” he remarked.
“He is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading conduct”.
Potential Incarceration Conditions
Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently contains about 14,000 inmates, his more likely location looks to be a adjacent penitentiary for officers and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more comfortable than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the impressive leader's home, approximately 20 kilometers away.
Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – roughly the area of two parking spaces – and features a 12 square meter bathroom with a shower and a 130 square foot terrace. “He could be permitted to have a television and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” information indicated.
Partisan Reactions
The lawmaker denounced the talked-about idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his future in the {