🔗 Share this article

He fought the law and the law triumphed.

Sixty days following getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “eradicate” the nation's democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears destined for incarceration.

Imminent Jailing

The convicted plotter – who has been subject to home confinement in his estate while a number of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the near future, amid increasing rumors that he will be sent to a infamous high-security facility.

Previous Comments on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s long political career, the far-right ex- paratrooper displayed minimal compassion for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to give these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They should just get fucked, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to end up in prison, the only thing required is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Jail Location Debate

But the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has horrified allies, a group of four this week inspected the complex in an apparent bid to discourage the judiciary from sending him there.

The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, said he expected the septuagenarian leader to be jailed in the next 10 days and feared his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe digestive problems – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 presidential political campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His condition is highly critical. He won’t be able to cope if they take him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the condition of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells accommodating 40 detainees: “That is almost one square metre per detainee.

“We spoke to the inmates and they protest, naturally, of the terrible meals,” added the senator.

Allies React

The senator isn't the sole person voicing opinions before the ex-leader's predicted imprisonment.

Writing in a prominent newspaper, one more backer, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest political injustice in its past”.

“It represents an unfairness that erodes the spirits of millions people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Divided General Reaction

This could be correct due to the substantial support Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also gladdened the hearts of millions individuals who feel he should be imprisoned for planning to block the incoming president from taking power – and also conspiring to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, said: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get proper treatment – but dignified treatment in prison. He can’t continue being his own prison warden for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have spent years applauding the tough handling of convicts, had abruptly woken up to their rights. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly argued that human rights were not for lawbreakers – opted to tour a penitentiary to discover what situations are really like,” he said.

“The former president is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, insulting conduct”.

Likely Jail Conditions

Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely destination looks to be a close prison for police officers and other “special” inmates known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the spectacular presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

Based on sources, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – about the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 sq metre restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “He could be allowed to have a TV and even a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Ideological Responses

He denounced the rumoured plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his fate in the {