🔗 Share this article

He contested justice and justice triumphed.

A couple of months subsequent to being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Jailing

The convicted coup-monger – who has been living under residential detention in his estate while a set of court processes and petitions play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, during increasing speculation that he will be moved to a notorious maximum security penitentiary.

Historical Remarks on Inmates

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the right-wing ex- military man exhibited little mercy for the country's inmates.

“What’s the need to provide these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That's my view.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to end up behind bars, you simply need is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Jail Facility Debate

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, a group of four this week visited the complex in an apparent bid to discourage the judiciary from sending him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, said he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute gut problems – the result of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 presidential campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It could be awful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the standard of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating forty inmates: “It's practically one square meter per prisoner.

“We conversed to the convicts and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the horrible food,” added the senator.

Allies Speak Out

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

Writing in a major newspaper, a different supporter, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest political injustice in its history”.

“This is an wrong that erodes the souls of millions people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Mixed Popular Response

That may be correct due to the significant following Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. However his anticipated jailing has also warmed the hearts of millions other people who feel he deserves to be jailed for plotting to prevent the elected leader from assuming office – and also scheming to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, stated: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to obtain respectful treatment – but proper care behind bars. He must not continue being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the harsh handling of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has consistently argued that human rights should not be for criminals – decided to tour a prison to find out what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.

“He is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, degrading treatment”.

Likely Prison Conditions

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently houses about 14,000 prisoners, his more likely location seems to be a close prison for officers and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

Its cells are far more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the impressive presidential palace, approximately a short distance away.

According to sources, the cell Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the area of two parking spaces – and contains a 130 square foot restroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter veranda. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and additionally a cooler in his room as long as they were supplied by his family,” information stated.

Partisan Comments

He denounced the speculated plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his outcome in the {