🔗 Share this article

He fought justice and justice won.

A couple of months after being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now appears destined for incarceration.

Expected Incarceration

The adjudicated coup-monger – who's been subject to home confinement in his mansion while a series of court processes and petitions unfold – is largely predicted to be jailed in the next few days, amid increasing talk that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security penitentiary.

Previous Remarks on Prisoners

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative ex- soldier exhibited minimal sympathy for the country's inmates.

“What’s the need to give those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be fucked, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”

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

Prison Location Speculation

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, a group of four this week toured the complex in an seeming effort to dissuade the supreme court from sending him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he expected the 70-year-old politician to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute gut issues – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the last presidential campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is extremely serious. He won’t be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the standard of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding forty inmates: “It's almost one square meter per prisoner.

“We spoke to the convicts and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible meals,” remarked the senator.

Backers Voice Concerns

He is not the only voice voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s expected imprisonment.

Writing in a major publication, another ally, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest political injustice in its history”.

“It is an injustice that eats away the hearts of many people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Divided General Opinion

That may be correct due to the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. However his expected imprisonment has also warmed the feelings of millions others who believe he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to stop the incoming president from taking power – and also conspiring to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the sitting administration's allied group, commented: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. No one wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to obtain dignified care – but respectful care in prison. He must not carry on being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long applauding the tough handling of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their entitlements. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has always asserted that civil liberties were not for offenders – chosen to inspect a jail to find out what circumstances are truly like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading treatment”.

Likely Prison Environment

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now contains about thousands of inmates, his more likely destination appears to be a adjacent penitentiary for law enforcement and other “unique” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are much more adequate than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while living in the impressive leader's home, around 12 miles away.

Based on sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – about the area of two parking spaces – and contains a 130 square foot restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a set and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were supplied by his family,” sources suggested.

Political Responses

He criticized the rumoured proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his outcome in the {