🔗 Share this article

He battled the law and the legal system prevailed.

A couple of months subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Jailing

The adjudicated coup-monger – who's been subject to house arrest in his residence while a set of judicial steps and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst growing speculation that he will be moved to a infamous top-security prison.

Previous Comments on Prisoners

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative former soldier displayed minimal mercy for the country's prison population.

“For what reason must we give those scoundrels a good life?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be fucked, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up there, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Jail Facility Discussion

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, a group of four this week visited the complex in an apparent effort to dissuade the judiciary from sending him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he predicted the elderly figure to be jailed in the next 10 days and feared his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe digestive ailments – the outcome of a almost deadly knife attack during the 2018 presidential election race – signified it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is very grave. He won’t be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he commented, who also worried about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating forty inmates: “That is practically one square meter per inmate.

“We talked to the convicts and they protest, unsurprisingly, of the horrible food,” added the senator.

Supporters Speak Out

The senator isn't the lone figure speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's expected incarceration.

Writing in a leading publication, a different supporter, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its history”.

“It is an unfairness that erodes the spirits of many of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Mixed Public Opinion

That may be true considering the considerable following Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. But his anticipated imprisonment has also gladdened the feelings of millions other people who believe he deserves to be jailed for planning to prevent the incoming president from taking power – and additionally plotting to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's allied group, said: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. No one wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain proper treatment – but respectful handling in prison. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years applauding the tough handling of prisoners, had suddenly become aware to their privileges. “Recently has the extreme right – which has always asserted that basic rights are not for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a penitentiary to find out what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, degrading treatment”.

Likely Prison Environment

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about fourteen thousand detainees, his expected location looks to be a nearby penitentiary for police officers and other “particular” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

Its cells are considerably more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the stunning presidential palace, about 12 miles away.

Based on reports, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 square meter restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot balcony. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a cooler in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Political Responses

Senator Lucas criticized the talked-about proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his future in the {