Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Time in Prison

He battled the law and the legal system triumphed.

A couple of months after being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks jail-bound.

Imminent Imprisonment

The found-guilty coup-monger – who's been under house arrest in his residence while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the next few days, amid increasing rumors that he will be sent to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.

Previous Remarks on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative former military man exhibited minimal sympathy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“What’s the need to provide these scoundrels a good life?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be fucked, end of story. That's my opinion.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Incarceration Location Debate

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, several of whom this week toured the complex in an apparent effort to discourage the supreme court from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he anticipated the 70-year-old leader to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and was concerned his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal issues – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential political campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He won’t be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he commented, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the standard of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding forty prisoners: “That’s virtually one square meter per inmate.

“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the awful cuisine,” added the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's predicted incarceration.

Authoring in a major newspaper, one more backer, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the largest unfairness in its past”.

“It represents an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of countless people in Brazil,” he stated.

Mixed General Opinion

That may be correct given the considerable backing Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. However his expected jailing has also warmed the spirits of numerous others who feel he should be incarcerated for conspiring to block his successor from becoming president – and also scheming to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the incumbent president's Workers’ party, said: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to receive proper care – but dignified care in prison. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the harsh treatment of inmates, had abruptly realized to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has repeatedly asserted that human rights should not be for lawbreakers – decided to tour a prison to learn what situations are truly like,” he remarked.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, degrading treatment”.

Potential Jail Facilities

Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently holds about thousands of detainees, his more likely destination appears to be a nearby jail for law enforcement and other “special” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are much more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the stunning official residence, approximately a short distance away.

According to information, the room Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – about the size of vehicle spaces – and contains a 130 square foot WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a minibar in his cell as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” sources indicated.

Partisan Reactions

Senator Lucas denounced the speculated idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his outcome in the {

Jacob Kennedy
Jacob Kennedy

A seasoned gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in online casinos, specializing in slot machine mechanics and player strategy optimization.