Jailhouse Shock: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Faces Time Behind Bars

He battled justice and the legal system prevailed.

Two months subsequent to getting a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's political system, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks headed to prison.

Expected Jailing

The convicted coup-monger – who had been living under residential detention in his mansion while a series of legal procedures and petitions unfold – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the coming days, amid increasing talk that he will be moved to a well-known maximum security facility.

Past Statements on Prisoners

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the far-right ex- paratrooper exhibited minimal sympathy for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to offer those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They should just get fucked, period. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to end up there, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Facility Debate

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, a group of four this week toured the complex in an seeming attempt to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, stated he anticipated the elderly politician to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and worried his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute digestive ailments – the consequence of a life-threatening assault during the last political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His health is very grave. He won’t be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” he added, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating 40 prisoners: “That is virtually one square metre per prisoner.

“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible cuisine,” added the senator.

Backers Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the only voice voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s predicted detention.

Writing in a major daily, a different supporter, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its record”.

“It represents an wrong that gnaws the souls of millions people in Brazil,” he stated.

Varied General Reaction

That may be true considering the considerable support Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his predicted jailing has also gladdened the spirits of numerous others who think he ought to be jailed for plotting to prevent the incoming president from taking power – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting president's allied group, said: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in isolation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to obtain dignified care – but dignified treatment while incarcerated. He cannot continue being his own prison warden for his whole life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years applauding the severe treatment of prisoners, had unexpectedly woken up to their rights. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that basic rights should not be for criminals – chosen to visit a jail to find out what conditions are truly like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading conduct”.

Potential Incarceration Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about thousands of inmates, his probable destination seems to be a adjacent prison for officers and other “special” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more adequate than those in the main prison, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while living in the stunning official residence, around a short distance away.

According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – about the area of two parking spaces – and features a 12 sq metre WC with a shower and a 12 square meter balcony. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and even a cooler in his cell as long as they were supplied by his family,” sources suggested.

Political Responses

Senator Lucas denounced the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his fate in the {