Jailhouse Shock: The FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Time Behind Bars

He fought justice and the legal system triumphed.

Two months subsequent to receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “destroy” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears jail-bound.

Imminent Jailing

The convicted instigator – who's been living under residential detention in his mansion while a set of judicial steps and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security prison.

Past Comments on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the right-wing ex- military man showed minimal compassion for the country's jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we give those lowlifes a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to end up in prison, the only thing required is not rape, kidnap or theft.”

Prison Location Debate

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, several of whom this week toured the complex in an apparent attempt to discourage the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, claimed he expected the elderly figure to be jailed in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious gut problems – the result of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells containing forty prisoners: “That is virtually one meter squared per prisoner.

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

Allies Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the lone figure speaking out before the ex-leader's expected incarceration.

Penning in a leading publication, another ally, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its record”.

“It is an unfairness that eats away the spirits of countless Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided Public Reaction

This could be true given the significant following Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. However his anticipated incarceration has also pleased the feelings of millions individuals who feel he should be imprisoned for planning to stop his successor from taking power – and also scheming to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current leader's allied group, said: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. No one desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to obtain dignified care – but respectful handling while incarcerated. He must not carry on being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro allies, who have spent years applauding the severe handling of prisoners, had abruptly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the far-right – which has always asserted that civil liberties are not for lawbreakers – decided to tour a jail to learn what situations are truly like,” he remarked.

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

Likely Incarceration Environment

Despite rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently contains about fourteen thousand detainees, his more likely location looks to be a adjacent jail for police officers and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, around 20 kilometers away.

Based on information, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – about the size of two parking spaces – and contains a 12 square meter WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “He could be permitted to have a TV and also a small fridge in his room as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” the report suggested.

Partisan Responses

The lawmaker criticized the rumoured plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his outcome in the {