Prison Shock: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison
He fought justice and the legal system prevailed.
Two months following getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “eradicate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last seems jail-bound.
Expected Imprisonment
The found-guilty plotter – who has been under house arrest in his residence while a number of judicial steps and petitions play out – is largely predicted to be incarcerated in the next few days, amid increasing speculation that he will be sent to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.
Previous Statements on Convicts
Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the far-right former soldier displayed little compassion for the country's jailed individuals.
“For what reason must we provide those scoundrels a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They should just get fucked, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to end up in prison, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”
Prison Destination Debate
Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, four of whom this week inspected the complex in an apparent attempt to prevent the supreme court from sending him there.
Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, stated he expected the elderly politician to be jailed in the coming fortnight and worried his destination could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious gut ailments – the outcome of a almost deadly knife attack during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His condition is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he added, who also worried about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.
While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells containing forty prisoners: “It's almost one square meter per prisoner.
“We spoke to the convicts and they complain, naturally, of the terrible food,” continued the senator.
Supporters Speak Out
The senator isn't the sole person expressing views ahead of the former president’s expected incarceration.
Authoring in a leading daily, a different supporter, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its record”.
“It represents an wrong that eats away the spirits of millions Brazilian citizens,” the former minister said.
Varied General Reaction
This could be true due to the considerable following Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated incarceration has also gladdened the hearts of numerous other people who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for conspiring to stop his successor from assuming office – and even plotting to have him assassinated.
Reimont Otoni, a politician for the current president's political party, said: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. No one desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to receive proper handling – but dignified handling in prison. He must not continue being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”
He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the severe conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their rights. “Just now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that human rights were not for criminals – opted to tour a jail to discover what situations are truly like,” he remarked.
“He is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, degrading conduct”.
Possible Jail Conditions
Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently contains about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely assigned facility looks to be a nearby prison for police officers and other “particular” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).
The accommodations are far more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while living in the impressive official residence, around a short distance away.
Based on sources, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – approximately the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 square meter restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a TV and even a minibar in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” the report stated.
Political Comments
He denounced the talked-about plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his future in the {