Jailhouse Surprise: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison

He battled justice and the law prevailed.

Two months following receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now seems destined for incarceration.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who had been subject to house arrest in his estate while a set of judicial steps and challenges proceed – is largely predicted to be jailed in the near future, amid mounting rumors that he will be sent to a notorious maximum security penitentiary.

Past Statements on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the far-right former soldier displayed little compassion for the country's inmates.

“For what reason must we give those scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to finish behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or rob.”

Jail Location Debate

However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, several of whom this week toured the complex in an seeming effort to prevent the supreme court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, said he anticipated the septuagenarian leader to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious digestive ailments – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 presidential campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He won’t be able to cope if they take him to Papuda … It could be terrible,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled observing cells accommodating 40 detainees: “That’s almost one meter squared per prisoner.

“We spoke to the convicts and they grumble, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the lone figure voicing opinions prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated detention.

Authoring in a prominent publication, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its history”.

“It represents an wrong that gnaws the souls of many people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Divided Popular Reaction

That may be accurate given the considerable following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. However his anticipated incarceration has also pleased the feelings of numerous individuals who believe he should be imprisoned for conspiring to block the elected leader from taking power – and additionally plotting to have him murdered.

Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the current administration's political party, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get dignified handling – but dignified care in prison. He can’t persist being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the harsh conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has consistently asserted that basic rights are not for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a penitentiary to find out what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, degrading treatment”.

Potential Jail Environment

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now contains about thousands of prisoners, his expected location seems to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “particular” prisoners called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are far more adequate than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular leader's home, approximately 20 kilometers away.

As per information, the room Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – approximately the area of vehicle spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a bathing area and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and additionally a small fridge in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” information stated.

Ideological Reactions

Senator Lucas denounced the rumoured proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his outcome in the {