🔗 Share this article

He fought justice and justice won.

Sixty days following receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “destroy” Brazil’s democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears jail-bound.

Anticipated Jailing

The found-guilty plotter – who had been under residential detention in his mansion while a series of court processes and petitions unfold – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst growing speculation that he will be moved to a notorious maximum security prison.

Past Remarks on Convicts

Over Bolsonaro’s long public life, the far-right former soldier displayed minimal sympathy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“Why should we give those scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They should just get screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to wind up in prison, all you have to do is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Facility Debate

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, several of whom this week visited the prison in an obvious effort to discourage the supreme court from transferring him there.

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

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious digestive issues – the consequence of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is highly critical. He will not be able to handle it if they send him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he added, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the quality of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “That is practically one meter squared per detainee.

“We talked to the inmates and they complain, naturally, of the awful food,” remarked the senator.

Supporters Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's anticipated incarceration.

Penning in a prominent newspaper, one more backer, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest wrong in its past”.

“It is an unfairness that eats away the hearts of many people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.

Varied General Opinion

This could be true due to the significant following Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. Yet his anticipated incarceration has also gladdened the feelings of numerous others who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for conspiring to block his successor from taking power – and additionally plotting to have him killed.

The lawmaker, a congressman for the incumbent president's allied group, said: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to get respectful handling – but proper care while incarcerated. He can’t continue being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the harsh treatment of convicts, had unexpectedly woken up to their privileges. “Just now has the far-right – which has always asserted that human rights were not for criminals – chosen to tour a prison to learn what conditions are truly like,” he remarked.

“He is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, demeaning handling”.

Likely Incarceration Conditions

Despite rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now contains about 14,000 prisoners, his probable destination looks to be a nearby prison for law enforcement and other “particular” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are considerably more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, approximately 12 miles away.

Based on sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – about the area of a couple of car spots – and includes a 130 square foot WC with a shower and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be allowed to have a television and even a cooler in his room as long as they were provided by his family,” sources suggested.

Partisan Reactions

He condemned the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his future in the {