🔗 Share this article

He contested the legal system and the legal system prevailed.

Sixty days following getting a 27-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now looks jail-bound.

Imminent Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who's been subject to home confinement in his mansion while a set of judicial steps and petitions proceed – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, amid growing talk that he will be sent to a notorious maximum security prison.

Historical Statements on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the far-right former paratrooper displayed scant sympathy for the country's jailed individuals.

“Why should we provide those dirtbags a good life?” he once mused. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to wind up in prison, the only thing required is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”

Jail Destination Discussion

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious attempt to dissuade the high court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, claimed he expected the septuagenarian leader to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and worried his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal problems – the consequence of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the standard of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells accommodating forty inmates: “It's almost one meter squared per inmate.

“We conversed to the convicts and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible meals,” added the senator.

Backers Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the only voice expressing views prior to the ex-leader's expected detention.

Authoring in a leading newspaper, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the greatest political injustice in its past”.

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

Varied General Response

This could be true given the significant following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. However his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the feelings of many others who believe he should be imprisoned for plotting to prevent his successor from assuming office – and additionally plotting to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the current administration's Workers’ party, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. No one wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to receive dignified care – but dignified care in prison. He must not carry on being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long celebrating the tough treatment of prisoners, had unexpectedly realized to their entitlements. “Recently has the extreme right – which has always claimed that basic rights should not be for criminals – decided to tour a penitentiary to learn what situations are actually like,” he stated.

“He is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, demeaning conduct”.

Possible Prison Facilities

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now contains about fourteen thousand detainees, his expected destination seems to be a nearby jail for officers and other “particular” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are much more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro had while occupying the spectacular official residence, around 20 kilometers away.

As per information, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – about the area of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre terrace. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a television and even a minibar in his room as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources stated.

Partisan Reactions

Senator Lucas condemned the speculated proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his future in the {