Jailhouse Surprise: The Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars

He contested the law and the legal system won.

Two months after being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro at last appears headed to prison.

Imminent Jailing

The found-guilty coup-monger – who had been under residential detention in his mansion while a series of legal procedures and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the near future, amidst growing talk that he will be sent to a well-known high-security prison.

Previous Remarks on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s long political career, the far-right ex- paratrooper displayed little compassion for the country's jailed individuals.

“What’s the need to provide these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be messed, period. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to end up there, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Facility Debate

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the prison in an apparent effort to prevent the high court from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he anticipated the septuagenarian figure to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal problems – the outcome of a almost deadly knife attack during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to cope if they take him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the quality of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells containing forty inmates: “That’s practically one meter squared per prisoner.

“We conversed to the convicts and they grumble, of course, of the terrible food,” continued the senator.

Allies Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's anticipated incarceration.

Writing in a major daily, one more backer, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the biggest wrong in its past”.

“It is an injustice that eats away the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed General Opinion

That may be true given the significant following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. However his predicted incarceration has also pleased the feelings of millions individuals who feel he ought to be jailed for plotting to prevent the incoming president from becoming president – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the incumbent president's political party, stated: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain dignified handling – but dignified treatment behind bars. He must not carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have long celebrating the tough handling of inmates, had suddenly become aware to their privileges. “Recently has the far-right – which has repeatedly claimed that human rights are not for offenders – opted to inspect a penitentiary to find out what conditions are actually like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, insulting conduct”.

Potential Jail Conditions

Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his expected assigned facility appears to be a nearby prison for law enforcement and other “particular” prisoners known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are much more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the impressive leader's home, approximately 12 miles away.

According to information, the cell Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the size of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “He could be authorized to have a set and additionally a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” information stated.

Political Comments

The lawmaker condemned the speculated plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his future in the {

Michelle Woodard
Michelle Woodard

A software engineer and retro computing enthusiast who restores vintage computers and writes about their historical significance.