🔗 Share this article

He fought justice and the law won.

A couple of months following receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks destined for incarceration.

Expected Jailing

The found-guilty instigator – who's been subject to house arrest in his residence while a number of judicial steps and appeals play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the next few days, amidst mounting rumors that he will be moved to a notorious top-security facility.

Previous Remarks on Inmates

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the conservative former military man showed scant compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“What’s the need to provide those dirtbags a easy time?” he once mused. “They should just get messed, end of story. That's my view.”

At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, all you have to do is not rape, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Destination Discussion

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, several of whom this week visited the prison in an seeming attempt to prevent the judiciary from sending him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the elderly figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious gut problems – the result of a near-fatal stabbing during the last presidential campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is highly critical. He won’t be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It will be awful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells holding 40 prisoners: “That’s practically one square meter per detainee.

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

Allies Voice Concerns

He is not the lone figure expressing views before the former president’s predicted imprisonment.

Writing in a prominent publication, a different supporter, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the biggest wrong in its history”.

“This is an injustice that erodes the hearts of many people in Brazil,” he stated.

Varied Popular Response

That may be true considering the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. But his predicted jailing has also pleased the spirits of millions other people who feel he deserves to be jailed for planning to stop his successor from becoming president – and even scheming to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current president's allied group, stated: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to obtain dignified handling – but proper treatment while incarcerated. He can’t continue being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years applauding the severe handling of prisoners, had abruptly realized to their privileges. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has always argued that basic rights are not for criminals – chosen to inspect a prison to find out what situations are truly like,” he said.

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

Potential Incarceration Environment

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently holds about thousands of prisoners, his more likely location appears to be a nearby jail for officers and other “special” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

Its cells are considerably more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular leader's home, about a short distance away.

According to information, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 260 square feet – about the dimensions of two parking spaces – and contains a 12 sq metre restroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be authorized to have a TV and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” information indicated.

Partisan Responses

The lawmaker condemned the speculated idea to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his outcome in the {