🔗 Share this article

He fought the law and the law won.

A couple of months subsequent to getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Anticipated Jailing

The adjudicated instigator – who had been subject to residential detention in his mansion while a number of court processes and appeals play out – is largely predicted to be jailed in the near future, amid mounting speculation that he will be sent to a notorious high-security prison.

Historical Remarks on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s long political career, the right-wing ex- soldier exhibited little sympathy for the country's prison population.

“Why should we offer these dirtbags a easy time?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be messed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to end up there, the only thing required is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Jail Destination Debate

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, four of whom this week toured the prison in an obvious effort to discourage the judiciary from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he anticipated the 70-year-old leader to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious gut ailments – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 presidential political 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 move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the condition of jail cuisine.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells holding forty inmates: “That’s virtually one square metre per detainee.

“We talked to the prisoners and they grumble, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” added the senator.

Supporters Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the sole person expressing views ahead of the former president’s anticipated detention.

Writing in a leading newspaper, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to see “the largest political injustice in its past”.

“It is an injustice that gnaws the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided Popular Response

It is possibly correct considering the significant support Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. Yet his predicted imprisonment has also gladdened the spirits of many other people who believe he should be jailed for conspiring to prevent his successor from assuming office – and additionally scheming to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's allied group, commented: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get respectful care – but respectful treatment behind bars. He cannot carry on being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years praising the harsh conditions of prisoners, had unexpectedly woken up to their rights. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that human rights are not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a prison to find out what conditions are really like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, demeaning treatment”.

Likely Incarceration Conditions

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his probable assigned facility seems to be a close jail for officers and other “particular” prisoners known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the impressive presidential palace, approximately a short distance away.

According to reports, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – about the size of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 sq metre restroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a TV and also a small fridge in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” the report stated.

Political Reactions

He condemned the talked-about plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his fate in the {