🔗 Share this article

He fought justice and justice won.

Two months following being handed a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now appears headed to prison.

Expected Incarceration

The found-guilty instigator – who had been living under house arrest in his mansion while a set of court processes and appeals unfold – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, amidst growing speculation that he will be moved to a notorious high-security prison.

Historical Statements on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the conservative former military man displayed minimal compassion for the country's jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we provide these lowlifes a good life?” he once pondered. “They should just get fucked, period. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to finish behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid rape, kidnap or theft.”

Jail Destination Speculation

But the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, several of whom this week toured the prison in an apparent attempt to prevent the judiciary from sending him there.

The senator, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, said he anticipated the septuagenarian politician to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute digestive ailments – the outcome of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 presidential election race – meant it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is very grave. He cannot to manage if they take him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “It's practically one square meter per prisoner.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they grumble, of course, of the terrible food,” added the senator.

Supporters Speak Out

The senator isn't the lone figure expressing views before the one-time head of state's anticipated incarceration.

Penning in a major daily, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the largest unfairness in its history”.

“It is an unfairness that gnaws the spirits of millions of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Varied Popular Opinion

That may be true given the considerable following Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated jailing has also pleased the hearts of numerous individuals who believe he should be jailed for planning to prevent his successor from assuming office – and even conspiring to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current leader's political party, stated: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to receive proper care – but proper handling in prison. He cannot persist being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years praising the severe treatment of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their entitlements. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has always claimed that civil liberties should not be for offenders – opted to tour a prison to learn what situations are really like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, degrading conduct”.

Potential Prison Environment

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently contains about 14,000 inmates, his expected assigned facility appears to be a adjacent jail for law enforcement and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are much more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the spectacular official residence, approximately a short distance away.

According to information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – approximately the dimensions of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot balcony. “He could be permitted to have a set and additionally a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his family,” sources indicated.

Ideological Reactions

He denounced the talked-about proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his future in the {