Jailhouse Shock: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison

He battled the legal system and justice won.

Sixty days subsequent to being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for attempting to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro at last appears jail-bound.

Imminent Imprisonment

The adjudicated coup-monger – who had been living under residential detention in his mansion while a series of judicial steps and petitions proceed – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security facility.

Historical Remarks on Convicts

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the right-wing former military man displayed little compassion for the country's prison population.

“Why should we give these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be screwed, period. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to wind up behind bars, all you have to do is not rape, abduction or rob.”

Prison Destination Speculation

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, a group of four this week visited the facility in an apparent bid to discourage the judiciary from banishing him there.

The senator, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, claimed he predicted the elderly leader to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe digestive ailments – the consequence of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential political campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is highly critical. He won’t be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the quality of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells containing forty prisoners: “That is virtually one meter squared per inmate.

“We talked to the convicts and they protest, of course, of the terrible meals,” continued the senator.

Allies Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the lone figure speaking out before the one-time head of state's predicted incarceration.

Authoring in a leading newspaper, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest unfairness in its record”.

“This is an injustice that eats away the hearts of many of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed Popular Reaction

It is possibly correct considering the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. But his predicted jailing has also gladdened the hearts of many others who believe he deserves to be jailed for planning to block the incoming president from taking power – and additionally scheming to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the incumbent administration's Workers’ party, commented: “No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. No one desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain respectful care – but proper treatment behind bars. He must not continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long praising the tough handling of inmates, had unexpectedly realized to their entitlements. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that civil liberties are not for offenders – chosen to visit a prison to find out what conditions are actually like,” he said.

“He is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, insulting handling”.

Possible Jail Conditions

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently houses about thousands of inmates, his more likely destination appears to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “particular” prisoners called Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are much more adequate than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the impressive presidential palace, around 12 miles away.

According to information, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – approximately the size of two parking spaces – and features a 130 square foot restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a television and also a small fridge in his room as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” information suggested.

Ideological Comments

Senator Lucas criticized the rumoured idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his fate in the {