🔗 Share this article

He battled the law and justice triumphed.

A couple of months after being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “eradicate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears jail-bound.

Expected Jailing

The convicted instigator – who has been under home confinement in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is largely predicted to be jailed in the next few days, amidst growing talk that he will be sent to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.

Historical Comments on Inmates

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the far-right ex- military man exhibited little mercy for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They should just get screwed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up behind bars, you simply need is not sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”

Prison Facility Speculation

However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, several of whom this week toured the complex in an seeming bid to discourage the high court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, claimed he anticipated the septuagenarian figure to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious gut issues – the consequence of a life-threatening stabbing during the last political campaign – signified it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to cope if they take him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells holding four dozen inmates: “That is almost one square metre per detainee.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the horrible meals,” remarked the senator.

Supporters Speak Out

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out before the former president’s expected detention.

Penning in a prominent publication, one more backer, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the greatest wrong in its record”.

“This is an wrong that gnaws the souls of many Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Mixed General Reaction

That may be accurate considering the significant support Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. However his predicted imprisonment has also warmed the hearts of millions others who feel he deserves to be jailed for plotting to block the incoming president from assuming office – and even conspiring to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a representative for the current president's political party, stated: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to obtain dignified care – but proper treatment in prison. He must not persist being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have spent years praising the severe conditions of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their privileges. “Only now has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that civil liberties were not for lawbreakers – decided to visit a prison to find out what situations are truly like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, insulting treatment”.

Likely Prison Environment

Regardless of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now holds about 14,000 detainees, his expected location appears to be a adjacent jail for law enforcement and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are far more adequate than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro had while living in the spectacular official residence, around 20 kilometers away.

According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 square meter bathroom with a shower and a 12 sq metre balcony. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and also a small fridge in his cell as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” information indicated.

Political Comments

Senator Lucas condemned the speculated plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {