Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars
He fought the law and justice triumphed.
A couple of months after receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “destroy” Brazil’s democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks destined for incarceration.
Imminent Imprisonment
The adjudicated plotter – who's been under residential detention in his residence while a number of court processes and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, amidst mounting talk that he will be transferred to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.
Previous Statements on Prisoners
During Bolsonaro’s long public life, the far-right ex- military man showed scant compassion for the country's prison population.
“What’s the need to provide those dirtbags a easy time?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be messed, end of story. That's my view.”
At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to wind up there, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”
Jail Destination Speculation
However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, a group of four this week toured the facility in an seeming effort to discourage the high court from transferring him there.
Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, said he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and feared his location could be Papuda.
He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut ailments – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 political campaign – signified it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His health is highly critical. He will not be able to handle it if they send him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the standard of jail cuisine.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled observing cells accommodating four dozen detainees: “It's almost one meter squared per prisoner.
“We conversed to the prisoners and they grumble, of course, of the awful meals,” remarked the senator.
Backers React
Lucas is not the sole person expressing views before the former president’s predicted detention.
Writing in a prominent daily, another ally, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the greatest unfairness in its past”.
“This is an wrong that erodes the hearts of many people in Brazil,” he stated.
Divided General Response
That may be true given the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated jailing has also warmed the hearts of millions others who feel he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to block his successor from taking power – and additionally conspiring to have him killed.
The lawmaker, a congressman for the incumbent president's Workers’ party, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain proper treatment – but proper treatment in prison. He can’t continue being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”
He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the severe conditions of prisoners, had suddenly woken up to their privileges. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has always asserted that civil liberties were not for lawbreakers – decided to visit a prison to discover what situations are truly like,” he remarked.
“He is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, insulting conduct”.
Possible Incarceration Facilities
Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now houses about thousands of prisoners, his probable location appears to be a close penitentiary for police officers and other “special” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).
Its cells are much more adequate than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro had while living in the stunning official residence, about 12 miles away.
According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – approximately the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 130 square foot restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre balcony. “He could be permitted to have a TV and even a cooler in his quarters as long as they were donated by his relatives,” the report suggested.
Partisan Reactions
The lawmaker denounced the talked-about idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his future in the {