Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He contested the law and the law won.
A couple of months subsequent to getting a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now looks destined for incarceration.
Imminent Imprisonment
The adjudicated coup-monger – who has been subject to residential detention in his residence while a series of legal procedures and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, amidst increasing talk that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security penitentiary.
Previous Statements on Prisoners
Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative former military man displayed little compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.
“Why should we give those dirtbags a good life?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be messed, period. That's my opinion.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to end up there, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or rob.”
Incarceration Facility Debate
Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, four of whom this week inspected the complex in an apparent effort to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.
The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, said he anticipated the elderly politician to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and feared his destination could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal problems – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the last presidential campaign – implied it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He will not be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.
When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding forty prisoners: “That’s almost one meter squared per inmate.
“We spoke to the prisoners and they protest, naturally, of the horrible meals,” continued the senator.
Allies Voice Concerns
He is not the lone figure voicing opinions prior to the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.
Writing in a major newspaper, one more backer, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to see “the largest wrong in its past”.
“It represents an wrong that eats away the souls of many people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.
Varied Popular Opinion
That may be accurate given the significant backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his anticipated incarceration has also pleased the feelings of millions individuals who think he should be jailed for planning to stop the incoming president from taking power – and even plotting to have him assassinated.
Congressman Otoni, a representative for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to receive dignified treatment – but proper care while incarcerated. He cannot persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”
He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have long celebrating the severe handling of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has consistently claimed that basic rights should not be for offenders – decided to tour a prison to learn what situations are really like,” he said.
“The former president is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, demeaning conduct”.
Likely Incarceration Facilities
In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently contains about fourteen thousand inmates, his expected destination looks to be a close jail for police officers and other “special” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
The accommodations are far more adequate than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while living in the stunning official residence, around 20 kilometers away.
As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 square meter WC with a shower and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be allowed to have a TV and also a minibar in his quarters as long as they were donated by his relatives,” sources stated.
Political Comments
He condemned the talked-about plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his outcome in the {