🔗 Share this article

He battled justice and justice prevailed.

Two months subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears headed to prison.

Expected Jailing

The convicted coup-monger – who had been subject to residential detention in his mansion while a series of judicial steps and petitions unfold – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the near future, amid growing rumors that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security facility.

Past Remarks on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long political career, the conservative ex- paratrooper displayed little sympathy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we give these dirtbags a good life?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be fucked, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to end up behind bars, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Jail Location Debate

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious bid to discourage the supreme court from transferring him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, said he expected the septuagenarian figure to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and worried his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal issues – the result of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential political campaign – signified it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His condition is highly critical. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the condition of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells holding forty prisoners: “That is virtually one square meter per inmate.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible meals,” continued the senator.

Supporters Speak Out

Lucas is not the sole person voicing opinions before the one-time head of state's predicted incarceration.

Penning in a prominent publication, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the greatest political injustice in its history”.

“It is an injustice that gnaws the hearts of many of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Mixed General Response

That may be true considering the significant backing Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. However his anticipated incarceration has also pleased the spirits of many others who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for plotting to stop the incoming president from taking power – and even scheming to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a politician for the sitting administration's Workers’ party, said: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to obtain proper treatment – but proper care behind bars. He can’t carry on being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years praising the tough conditions of convicts, had suddenly realized to their privileges. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly argued that basic rights should not be for lawbreakers – chosen to inspect a prison to find out what conditions are truly like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, demeaning conduct”.

Possible Prison Conditions

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now houses about fourteen thousand prisoners, his expected assigned facility looks to be a adjacent penitentiary for officers and other “special” prisoners called Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are far more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while living in the impressive presidential palace, about a short distance away.

Based on sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha has about 260 square feet – roughly the dimensions of two parking spaces – and includes a 12 sq metre WC with a shower and a 12 square meter balcony. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a TV and even a minibar in his quarters as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” sources stated.

Political Reactions

The lawmaker criticized the rumoured proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his fate in the {