Prison Shock: Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars

He battled the law and the legal system triumphed.

A couple of months following getting a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro now seems headed to prison.

Anticipated Incarceration

The adjudicated instigator – who has been under house arrest in his estate while a number of judicial steps and challenges proceed – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the coming days, during growing speculation that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security penitentiary.

Previous Statements on Inmates

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the right-wing former soldier displayed little mercy for the country's inmates.

“For what reason must we provide those dirtbags a good life?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to wind up there, the only thing required is to avoid rape, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Location Debate

However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, a group of four this week visited the facility in an seeming attempt to prevent the supreme court from banishing him there.

The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he expected the 70-year-old politician to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut problems – the consequence of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 presidential presidential campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be awful,” said the senator, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the quality of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells accommodating four dozen detainees: “That’s almost one meter squared per inmate.

“We conversed to the inmates and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the awful cuisine,” continued the senator.

Supporters React

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's anticipated imprisonment.

Authoring in a leading publication, one more backer, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the greatest unfairness in its history”.

“This is an wrong that eats away the hearts of millions Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed Popular Response

It is possibly true given the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. Yet his predicted incarceration has also warmed the hearts of numerous other people who believe he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to prevent his successor from taking power – and also scheming to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the incumbent administration's Workers’ party, commented: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get respectful care – but respectful care while incarcerated. He must not persist being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the tough treatment of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always asserted that basic rights were not for criminals – decided to visit a penitentiary to find out what situations are really like,” he remarked.

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

Possible Prison Facilities

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently contains about 14,000 detainees, his more likely location seems to be a adjacent jail for law enforcement and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more adequate than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the stunning presidential palace, approximately 12 miles away.

As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and includes a 130 square foot WC with a shower and a 12 square meter terrace. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a set and also a cooler in his room as long as they were donated by his relatives,” the report indicated.

Partisan Comments

Senator Lucas denounced the rumoured plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {

Jamie Hernandez
Jamie Hernandez

A tech entrepreneur and writer with over a decade of experience in digital transformation and startup ecosystems.