Jailhouse Shock: The Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Faces Time in Prison
He contested the legal system and the legal system won.
A couple of months following getting a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now seems destined for incarceration.
Expected Imprisonment
The found-guilty plotter – who's been subject to house arrest in his residence while a number of legal procedures and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, amidst mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a well-known high-security prison.
Past Remarks on Convicts
Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the right-wing ex- paratrooper displayed scant compassion for the country's inmates.
“What’s the need to give those dirtbags a good life?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”
Incarceration Destination Speculation
However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, several of whom this week toured the facility in an apparent effort to discourage the high court from sending him there.
Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, stated he predicted the 70-year-old leader to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and worried his destination could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive ailments – the result 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 highly critical. He won’t be able to cope if they take him to Papuda … It could be awful,” he added, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the condition of inmate food.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding four dozen prisoners: “That is almost one meter squared per prisoner.
“We talked to the convicts and they complain, of course, of the awful cuisine,” added the senator.
Supporters React
The senator isn't the only voice expressing views ahead of the ex-leader's predicted incarceration.
Penning in a prominent publication, one more backer, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its history”.
“It represents an unfairness that eats away the spirits of countless people in Brazil,” the former minister said.
Divided Popular Reaction
This could be accurate given the substantial support Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also gladdened the hearts of many individuals who feel he should be jailed for plotting to prevent the elected leader from assuming office – and also plotting to have him assassinated.
The lawmaker, a representative for the sitting leader's political party, stated: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to obtain proper treatment – but respectful treatment in prison. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the tough conditions of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their entitlements. “Only now has the far-right – which has always argued that civil liberties should not be for criminals – decided to inspect a prison to find out what conditions are actually like,” he stated.
“The former president is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, insulting handling”.
Likely Prison Facilities
Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently holds about thousands of detainees, his more likely location appears to be a close jail for officers and other “special” inmates called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
Its cells are considerably more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although still a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while living in the impressive official residence, about 12 miles away.
As per information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate occupy in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – approximately the size of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 sq metre restroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “He could be permitted to have a set and even a small fridge in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” sources indicated.
Political Comments
Senator Lucas criticized the speculated proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his fate in the {