🔗 Share this article

He fought justice and justice prevailed.

Two months after receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks destined for incarceration.

Expected Imprisonment

The adjudicated instigator – who's been living under home confinement in his residence while a number of legal procedures and appeals play out – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the next few days, amidst increasing talk that he will be moved to a notorious maximum security penitentiary.

Past Statements on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long political career, the right-wing ex- paratrooper displayed little sympathy for Brazil’s prison population.

“Why should we provide those dirtbags a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to wind up behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or rob.”

Prison Destination Speculation

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the facility in an seeming bid to prevent the high court from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, said he expected the septuagenarian figure to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal issues – the outcome of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He won’t be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating 40 detainees: “That is practically one meter squared per prisoner.

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

Supporters Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the lone figure expressing views prior to the former president’s anticipated imprisonment.

Authoring in a prominent newspaper, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its past”.

“It is an injustice that gnaws the hearts of countless people in Brazil,” he stated.

Mixed Public Opinion

This could be accurate due to the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his expected imprisonment has also pleased the hearts of millions other people who feel he ought to be incarcerated for planning to block his successor from taking power – and even plotting to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the sitting president's Workers’ party, stated: “No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to obtain proper handling – but dignified treatment behind bars. He cannot carry on being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the harsh treatment of prisoners, had abruptly realized to their rights. “Recently has the far-right – which has always asserted that civil liberties should not be for criminals – opted to visit a jail to discover what circumstances are actually like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, demeaning handling”.

Potential Incarceration Facilities

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now houses about fourteen thousand detainees, his probable destination seems to be a nearby penitentiary for officers and other “particular” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

Its cells are far more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular official residence, about 12 miles away.

According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – about the dimensions of vehicle spaces – and includes a 12 sq metre WC with a bathing area and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be allowed to have a set and additionally a minibar in his cell as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” the report suggested.

Ideological Responses

Senator Lucas condemned the rumoured plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his fate in the {