🔗 Share this article

He contested justice and justice triumphed.

Two months subsequent to being handed a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems headed to prison.

Anticipated Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who has been living under home confinement in his residence while a number of court processes and petitions play out – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, amid mounting talk that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security penitentiary.

Historical Remarks on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the right-wing former military man showed scant compassion for the country's prison population.

“For what reason must we offer these dirtbags a good life?” he once pondered. “They should just get messed, period. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to finish behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Prison Destination Speculation

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, several of whom this week toured the prison in an apparent bid to prevent the high court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, said he anticipated the septuagenarian politician to be jailed in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal problems – the result of a near-fatal assault during the 2018 presidential election race – signified it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His condition is highly critical. He won’t be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he added, who also worried about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding four dozen inmates: “That is virtually one meter squared per prisoner.

“We conversed to the convicts and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the terrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Allies React

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out before the ex-leader's anticipated detention.

Writing in a leading newspaper, a different supporter, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the greatest unfairness in its history”.

“This is an wrong that eats away the hearts of countless people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Divided Public Opinion

That may be accurate considering the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. Yet his expected jailing has also gladdened the feelings of numerous others who believe he deserves to be jailed for conspiring to prevent the incoming president from taking power – and even scheming to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current president's allied group, commented: “No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. No one desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to get proper care – but dignified treatment in prison. He cannot persist being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long celebrating the severe treatment of convicts, had suddenly become aware to their entitlements. “Recently has the conservative fringe – which has consistently asserted that basic rights are not for criminals – opted to inspect a penitentiary to discover what circumstances are actually like,” he remarked.

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

Potential Jail Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 prisoners, his more likely assigned facility appears to be a close jail for officers and other “particular” inmates known as Papudinha (Small 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 impressive official residence, about a short distance away.

As per reports, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter restroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot terrace. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a television and even a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Political Responses

Senator Lucas denounced the speculated idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his outcome in the {