Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars

He fought the legal system and the law won.

A couple of months after receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally seems headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted coup-monger – who's been under home confinement in his estate while a set of court processes and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known high-security prison.

Historical Remarks on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the far-right ex- soldier showed little sympathy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be fucked, period. That's my opinion.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to end up there, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Prison Facility Debate

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, a group of four this week toured the facility in an obvious attempt to discourage the high court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, claimed he expected the septuagenarian politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the outcome of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 political campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is highly critical. He will not be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he added, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the quality of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells containing forty prisoners: “That’s almost one square metre per inmate.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the horrible meals,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the only voice voicing opinions prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated incarceration.

Writing in a leading publication, one more backer, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its past”.

“This is an unfairness that eats away the spirits of many people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Varied General Response

That may be accurate considering the significant support Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. However his predicted jailing has also pleased the feelings of numerous others who feel he deserves to be incarcerated for conspiring to stop his successor from assuming office – and even scheming to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current president's political party, said: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. No one wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain proper care – but proper care in prison. He cannot persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the tough handling of inmates, had abruptly woken up to their rights. “Only now has the extreme right – which has consistently argued that civil liberties are not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are truly like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, demeaning treatment”.

Possible Prison Facilities

Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently houses about thousands of inmates, his probable location seems to be a adjacent jail for law enforcement and other “particular” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are far more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the stunning presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

As per reports, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – approximately the size of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre terrace. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a set and additionally a minibar in his room as long as they were supplied by his family,” information suggested.

Ideological Reactions

Senator Lucas criticized the speculated plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his fate in the {

Tanya Webster
Tanya Webster

Mira Thorne is a seasoned journalist and political analyst with over a decade of experience covering European affairs and digital trends.