Jailhouse Surprise: Brazil's FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars

He battled justice and the law prevailed.

A couple of months subsequent to getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks headed to prison.

Imminent Incarceration

The convicted instigator – who had been under house arrest in his residence while a set of legal procedures and petitions unfold – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, amid growing speculation that he will be moved to a notorious maximum security facility.

Historical Remarks on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the right-wing former paratrooper showed little sympathy for Brazil’s prison population.

“What’s the need to give those lowlifes a easy time?” he once pondered. “They should just get screwed, period. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up behind bars, all you have to do is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Facility Discussion

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious attempt to prevent the high court from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, said he expected the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe digestive ailments – the result of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 political campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be terrible,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the condition of jail cuisine.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells containing four dozen inmates: “It's virtually one meter squared per inmate.

“We spoke to the inmates and they protest, of course, of the terrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Supporters React

Lucas is not the sole person expressing views before the one-time head of state's anticipated incarceration.

Penning in a leading daily, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to see “the biggest wrong in its past”.

“It is an wrong that eats away the souls of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Varied General Reaction

That may be true considering the significant backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his anticipated jailing has also pleased the feelings of numerous other people who believe he ought to be jailed for plotting to stop the elected leader from assuming office – and also plotting to have him murdered.

Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, stated: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get dignified care – but respectful care in prison. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the severe treatment of prisoners, had suddenly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that human rights are not for lawbreakers – opted to tour a jail to find out what situations are actually like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, degrading treatment”.

Potential Prison Conditions

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently houses about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely location looks to be a nearby prison for officers and other “special” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are much more adequate than those in the main prison, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the spectacular leader's home, approximately 20 kilometers away.

According to information, the cell Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – approximately the size of two parking spaces – and features a 12 square meter bathroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter balcony. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a set and even a minibar in his room as long as they were provided by his relatives,” sources suggested.

Political Comments

The lawmaker criticized the speculated idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his fate in the {