Prison Surprise: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison

He battled the law and the law prevailed.

Two months following being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears destined for incarceration.

Imminent Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who's been subject to home confinement in his mansion while a set of judicial steps and challenges play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the near future, during increasing speculation that he will be moved to a infamous high-security facility.

Past Comments on Convicts

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

“What’s the need to provide these lowlifes a good life?” 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 in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Prison Destination Discussion

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, four of whom this week inspected the complex in an seeming attempt to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old leader to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and worried his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe gut ailments – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is highly critical. He won’t be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells containing four dozen prisoners: “That’s practically one square meter per detainee.

“We talked to the prisoners and they grumble, of course, of the terrible cuisine,” continued the senator.

Backers Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the only voice speaking out before the ex-leader's expected imprisonment.

Writing in a major publication, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest wrong in its history”.

“It is an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” he stated.

Mixed Popular Opinion

That may be correct considering the substantial support Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the spirits of many individuals who think he ought to be imprisoned for planning to block the elected leader from assuming office – and also plotting to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the incumbent leader's Workers’ party, said: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to obtain respectful treatment – but dignified care in prison. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years celebrating the tough handling of prisoners, had abruptly realized to their privileges. “Recently has the far-right – which has repeatedly asserted that human rights are not for lawbreakers – decided to visit a prison to discover what conditions are truly like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, degrading handling”.

Potential Prison Facilities

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently houses about thousands of prisoners, his probable location looks to be a adjacent prison for law enforcement and other “unique” prisoners called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are far more adequate than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro had while residing in the stunning presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

According to information, the cell Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – approximately the dimensions of two parking spaces – and contains a 12 square meter WC with a water facility and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be allowed to have a television and even a minibar in his room as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information suggested.

Ideological Comments

Senator Lucas denounced the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his outcome in the {

Diana Graves
Diana Graves

Award-winning photographer with over 15 years of experience specializing in landscape and portrait photography, passionate about teaching visual arts.