Jailhouse Surprise: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars

He battled justice and the law won.

Sixty days following getting a quarter-century plus sentence for attempting to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now seems jail-bound.

Imminent Incarceration

The adjudicated coup-monger – who's been under home confinement in his estate while a number of legal procedures and appeals play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, amid growing talk that he will be moved to a notorious top-security penitentiary.

Past Remarks on Inmates

During Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the far-right ex- soldier exhibited scant mercy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we provide those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be fucked, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up there, you simply need is not sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Prison Facility Discussion

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, four of whom this week toured the prison in an seeming effort to discourage the supreme court from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, stated he expected the septuagenarian politician to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and feared his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut ailments – the result of a almost deadly stabbing during the last presidential campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to cope if they take him to Papuda … It would be awful,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the quality of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating 40 inmates: “It's practically one square meter per inmate.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they protest, of course, of the awful cuisine,” continued the senator.

Allies Speak Out

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out prior to the former president’s predicted imprisonment.

Writing in a major daily, another ally, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the largest political injustice in its history”.

“It represents an unfairness that gnaws the spirits of countless of Brazilians,” he stated.

Mixed Popular Reaction

This could be correct due to the significant following Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his predicted jailing has also gladdened the feelings of numerous others who think he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to prevent his successor from taking power – and also conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the current administration's Workers’ party, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to obtain respectful handling – but proper handling while incarcerated. He cannot persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the tough handling of inmates, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has always claimed that basic rights should not be for offenders – chosen to tour a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, degrading conduct”.

Potential Incarceration Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now houses about 14,000 inmates, his more likely assigned facility appears to be a close prison for officers and other “special” prisoners called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are far more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the stunning leader's home, approximately 12 miles away.

Based on sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and contains a 130 square foot restroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be permitted to have a set and also a small fridge in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” sources stated.

Political Responses

He condemned the rumoured idea to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his fate in the {