Prison Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison

He fought the law and the legal system won.

Sixty days subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” the nation's political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Jailing

The convicted instigator – who has been under residential detention in his residence while a series of court processes and petitions play out – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the near future, during growing rumors that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security penitentiary.

Historical Statements on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative former military man showed scant mercy for the country's jailed individuals.

“Why should we provide those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be screwed, end of story. That's my view.”

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

Jail Location Speculation

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, four of whom this week toured the prison in an apparent bid to prevent the high court from sending him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and feared his destination could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal issues – the result of a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is very grave. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he added, who also worried about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

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

“We spoke to the prisoners and they protest, of course, of the awful food,” added the senator.

Supporters Speak Out

He is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's anticipated imprisonment.

Authoring in a major newspaper, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the biggest unfairness in its record”.

“This is an wrong that eats away the hearts of millions Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided Popular Response

That may be accurate given the considerable backing Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. But his expected jailing has also pleased the feelings of numerous others who think he should be imprisoned for conspiring to block his successor from becoming president – and additionally conspiring to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the sitting leader's allied group, stated: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to get respectful care – but respectful handling behind bars. He must not continue being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time applauding the tough handling of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their privileges. “Recently has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that human rights were not for lawbreakers – decided to inspect a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.

“The former president is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, insulting treatment”.

Potential Jail Environment

Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely assigned facility seems to be a close jail for law enforcement and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are far more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the impressive leader's home, about a short distance away.

According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – approximately the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a set and even a small fridge in his room as long as they were provided by his family,” the report suggested.

Partisan Responses

The lawmaker denounced the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his outcome in the {