🔗 Share this article

He fought the legal system and the law prevailed.

Two months subsequent to being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” Brazil’s political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Incarceration

The convicted coup-monger – who's been under residential detention in his estate while a series of court processes and appeals play out – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the next few days, during increasing rumors that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security prison.

Previous Comments on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the right-wing former military man showed scant sympathy for Brazil’s prison population.

“What’s the need to offer those scoundrels a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They should just get screwed, period. That’s what I reckon.”

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

Jail Facility Debate

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, four of whom this week inspected the complex in an obvious bid to dissuade the high court from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he expected the septuagenarian politician to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and feared his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut issues – the result of a life-threatening stabbing during the last election race – signified it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is extremely serious. He will not be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” said the senator, who also worried about packed cells and the condition of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells holding forty inmates: “That’s practically one square metre per prisoner.

“We spoke to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the horrible food,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out ahead of the former president’s expected detention.

Penning in a major daily, a different supporter, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its history”.

“This is an wrong that eats away the spirits of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Mixed Public Reaction

This could be accurate considering the considerable support Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. Yet his expected imprisonment has also warmed the spirits of many others who feel he should be jailed for conspiring to prevent the elected leader from becoming president – and also scheming to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a politician for the sitting president's Workers’ party, commented: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to receive respectful treatment – but proper care in prison. He can’t carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have long celebrating the tough treatment of inmates, had suddenly realized to their privileges. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that civil liberties should not be for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a jail to find out what circumstances are actually like,” he said.

“He is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, degrading treatment”.

Possible Incarceration Facilities

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now holds about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely destination appears to be a adjacent penitentiary for officers and other “particular” inmates known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

Its cells are far more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although still a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the stunning presidential palace, around a short distance away.

As per information, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 sq metre bathroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter balcony. “He could be allowed to have a television and also a minibar in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Partisan Comments

The lawmaker criticized the speculated plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his future in the {