🔗 Share this article

He fought the law and the legal system triumphed.

Two months subsequent to getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks headed to prison.

Imminent Imprisonment

The adjudicated plotter – who had been subject to house arrest in his estate while a number of court processes and appeals play out – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst mounting speculation that he will be sent to a notorious maximum security penitentiary.

Previous Statements on Convicts

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the far-right former military man showed minimal mercy for the country's inmates.

“Why should we provide these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They should just get screwed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to wind up there, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Prison Destination Debate

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the prison in an apparent effort to prevent the high court from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, said he predicted the septuagenarian leader to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and feared his location could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious gut problems – the result of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His condition is extremely serious. He cannot to manage if they send him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the condition of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells holding forty prisoners: “That’s practically one square meter per prisoner.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they complain, naturally, of the terrible cuisine,” added the senator.

Allies Voice Concerns

He is not the lone figure speaking out ahead of the ex-leader's expected imprisonment.

Authoring in a leading daily, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest unfairness in its record”.

“This is an injustice that gnaws the souls of many Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed Public Reaction

This could be correct given the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. Yet his predicted incarceration has also gladdened the spirits of millions individuals who believe he ought to be jailed for planning to block the elected leader from taking power – and additionally conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the sitting leader's political party, commented: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to receive proper care – but proper care in prison. He can’t continue being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the tough handling of convicts, had abruptly become aware to their entitlements. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly argued that basic rights should not be for offenders – opted to tour a prison to find out what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, demeaning treatment”.

Potential Jail Facilities

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely assigned facility looks to be a adjacent jail for police officers and other “unique” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while living in the stunning presidential palace, about 12 miles away.

According to information, the room Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – roughly the area of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre balcony. “He could be authorized to have a TV and even a small fridge in his room as long as they were supplied by his family,” sources indicated.

Ideological Responses

He denounced the talked-about proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his future in the {