Prison Shock: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison

He fought the legal system and the law won.

Sixty days subsequent to getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears headed to prison.

Anticipated Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who's been under home confinement in his mansion while a number of legal procedures and appeals play out – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the coming days, during mounting talk that he will be sent to a well-known top-security penitentiary.

Past Comments on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the conservative former paratrooper showed little mercy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we give these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be fucked, period. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to finish there, all you have to do is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Prison Location Speculation

However the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, four of whom this week visited the complex in an seeming bid to prevent the judiciary from transferring him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the following week and a half and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the result of a life-threatening stabbing during the last election race – implied it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is extremely serious. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the condition of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells holding 40 inmates: “That is practically one square meter per detainee.

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

Allies Speak Out

He is not the sole person expressing views ahead of the one-time head of state's predicted detention.

Authoring in a prominent publication, one more backer, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the largest political injustice in its record”.

“It is an wrong that eats away the hearts of many people in Brazil,” he stated.

Varied Popular Opinion

This could be true due to the substantial support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his expected imprisonment has also pleased the hearts of numerous others who believe he deserves to be imprisoned for plotting to stop the elected leader from becoming president – and even plotting to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, commented: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to get proper treatment – but respectful care while incarcerated. He must not carry on being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long applauding the harsh treatment of prisoners, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Just now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that basic rights are not for criminals – opted to tour a penitentiary to discover what situations are actually like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, insulting conduct”.

Possible Jail Environment

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently contains about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely assigned facility looks to be a close prison for law enforcement and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are far more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while living in the spectacular presidential palace, about a short distance away.

According to sources, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – about the area of two parking spaces – and contains a 130 square foot restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre balcony. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a television and additionally a cooler in his cell as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” the report stated.

Political Reactions

He denounced the talked-about plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his future in the {

Crystal Wiggins
Crystal Wiggins

A gaming technology analyst with over a decade of experience in slot machine design and industry research, passionate about innovation.