Jailhouse Shock: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars

He fought the legal system and justice prevailed.

Two months subsequent to being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now seems headed to prison.

Imminent Jailing

The found-guilty coup-monger – who has been living under residential detention in his estate while a number of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the coming days, amid growing talk that he will be sent to a well-known maximum security facility.

Past Remarks on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the conservative ex- military man exhibited minimal compassion for the country's inmates.

“What’s the need to give these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be fucked, period. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to finish there, you simply need is not sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”

Incarceration Destination Debate

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, four of whom this week toured the prison in an seeming bid to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, stated he expected the septuagenarian politician to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal problems – the outcome of a almost deadly knife attack during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is very grave. He won’t be able to cope if they take him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the quality of jail cuisine.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells containing 40 inmates: “That’s almost one square meter per detainee.

“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the awful meals,” added the senator.

Supporters React

He is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's expected incarceration.

Writing in a prominent newspaper, a different supporter, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the greatest unfairness in its past”.

“This is an wrong that erodes the hearts of countless Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided Popular Opinion

That may be correct considering the considerable following Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. Yet his predicted incarceration has also warmed the hearts of many other people who believe he ought to be jailed for conspiring to stop the elected leader from assuming office – and even plotting to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a politician for the current leader's Workers’ party, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get respectful care – but proper handling behind bars. He cannot carry on being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh handling of prisoners, had suddenly realized to their rights. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has consistently claimed that basic rights are not for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a prison to discover what conditions are really like,” he remarked.

“He is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, insulting handling”.

Potential Jail Environment

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his probable location seems to be a nearby prison for police officers and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

Its cells are much more adequate than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the spectacular official residence, about 20 kilometers away.

Based on information, the cell Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – approximately the size of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 sq metre restroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre veranda. “He could be permitted to have a television and also a minibar in his quarters as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” the report stated.

Partisan Responses

Senator Lucas denounced the rumoured plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his fate in the {