🔗 Share this article

He contested the legal system and the law triumphed.

Sixty days after being handed a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems destined for incarceration.

Imminent Imprisonment

The adjudicated plotter – who's been under home confinement in his mansion while a set of legal procedures and challenges unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst mounting talk that he will be moved to a infamous high-security penitentiary.

Past Statements on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the right-wing ex- soldier exhibited minimal compassion for the country's inmates.

“Why should we give those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to finish in prison, the only thing required is not sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”

Prison Destination Discussion

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, a group of four this week inspected the prison in an seeming attempt to dissuade the supreme court from banishing him there.

The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, stated he anticipated the septuagenarian leader to be jailed in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious gut problems – the consequence of a almost deadly stabbing during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He will not be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also worried about packed cells and the quality of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells containing forty prisoners: “It's practically one square metre per detainee.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they complain, naturally, of the terrible food,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

He is not the only voice expressing views ahead of the one-time head of state's expected imprisonment.

Authoring in a leading publication, a different supporter, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its history”.

“This is an wrong that erodes the spirits of countless of Brazilians,” he stated.

Varied Public Opinion

It is possibly true considering the considerable support Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. Yet his predicted imprisonment has also warmed the feelings of many individuals who think he ought to be jailed for plotting to block his successor from taking power – and even scheming to have him killed.

The lawmaker, a congressman for the incumbent leader's Workers’ party, stated: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get proper handling – but proper care behind bars. He must not carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the severe conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly realized to their privileges. “Recently has the far-right – which has consistently argued that human rights should not be for lawbreakers – opted to visit a penitentiary to learn what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, insulting treatment”.

Possible Jail Environment

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently holds about 14,000 prisoners, his more likely location looks to be a adjacent prison for police officers and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are much more adequate than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro had while occupying the impressive leader's home, about 12 miles away.

Based on reports, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate occupy in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – roughly the dimensions of two parking spaces – and features a 12 sq metre bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a TV and also a minibar in his quarters as long as they were provided by his relatives,” the report indicated.

Partisan Reactions

He condemned the speculated plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his outcome in the {