Prison Surprise: The Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life in Prison

He fought the legal system and justice triumphed.

Two months following getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “eradicate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears jail-bound.

Expected Incarceration

The adjudicated instigator – who has been living under house arrest in his residence while a set of legal procedures and challenges proceed – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the next few days, amid mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious maximum security prison.

Historical Remarks on Prisoners

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the right-wing former paratrooper exhibited little sympathy for the country's prison population.

“Why should we offer these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be messed, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to end up behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”

Jail Destination Speculation

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, a group of four this week toured the facility in an apparent bid to prevent the high court from sending him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, claimed he anticipated the elderly figure to be jailed in the following week and a half and feared his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut problems – the outcome of a almost deadly stabbing during the 2018 political campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is very grave. He will not be able to manage if they send him to Papuda … It will be awful,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the quality of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells accommodating forty inmates: “That is virtually one meter squared per inmate.

“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the horrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Backers Speak Out

Lucas is not the only voice expressing views ahead of the ex-leader's expected detention.

Penning in a major newspaper, a different supporter, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the greatest wrong in its record”.

“It represents an unfairness that erodes the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided Public Opinion

This could be accurate given the substantial backing Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. Yet his predicted incarceration has also gladdened the hearts of millions other people who believe he deserves to be incarcerated for conspiring to block the elected leader from taking power – and even plotting to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a congressman for the incumbent administration's Workers’ party, said: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. Nobody desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get proper handling – but proper treatment behind bars. He can’t carry on being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the tough treatment of prisoners, had unexpectedly woken up to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly argued that civil liberties should not be for criminals – opted to inspect a jail to discover what situations are truly like,” he said.

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

Likely Jail Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which presently holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his probable location appears to be a adjacent prison for officers and other “particular” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are considerably more adequate than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while living in the spectacular official residence, approximately 20 kilometers away.

According to reports, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – about the area of two parking spaces – and contains a 130 square foot bathroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “He could be allowed to have a television and even a cooler in his quarters as long as they were provided by his relatives,” sources suggested.

Ideological Comments

Senator Lucas criticized the speculated proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his outcome in the {

Tara Morris
Tara Morris

A gaming technology analyst with over a decade of experience in slot machine development and industry trends.