🔗 Share this article

He battled the law and the legal system prevailed.

A couple of months after being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now seems destined for incarceration.

Expected Jailing

The convicted coup-monger – who's been subject to home confinement in his estate while a set of legal procedures and challenges play out – 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 Remarks on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the conservative ex- paratrooper exhibited scant compassion for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to provide these scoundrels a easy time?” he once pondered. “They should just get screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to finish behind bars, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or rob.”

Jail Location Speculation

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, four of whom this week visited the complex in an seeming effort to prevent the supreme court from sending him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, claimed he expected the elderly leader to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious digestive problems – the outcome of a life-threatening assault during the 2018 election race – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the condition of jail cuisine.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells holding 40 prisoners: “It's practically one square meter per inmate.

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

Supporters Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the ex-leader's predicted detention.

Penning in a major daily, a different supporter, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the greatest wrong in its record”.

“It is an injustice that erodes the hearts of millions people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Reaction

That may be correct due to the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also gladdened the hearts of many other people who believe he should be incarcerated for plotting to prevent his successor from taking power – and additionally plotting to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a congressman for the incumbent leader's allied group, said: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to get dignified handling – but dignified care behind bars. He can’t continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the severe handling of inmates, had suddenly realized to their entitlements. “Just now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that basic rights are not for offenders – chosen to visit a jail to discover what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.

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

Likely Prison Conditions

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 detainees, his probable location looks to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “particular” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more comfortable than those in the main prison, although still a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro had while occupying the impressive presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the dimensions of two parking spaces – and contains a 12 square meter restroom with a bathing area and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a television and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” information indicated.

Ideological Reactions

He condemned the speculated plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his future in the {