🔗 Share this article

He battled justice and the legal system prevailed.

Sixty days subsequent to getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro at last appears destined for incarceration.

Anticipated Imprisonment

The adjudicated plotter – who has been living under home confinement in his estate while a series of court processes and challenges unfold – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, amid mounting speculation that he will be moved to a well-known top-security prison.

Past Remarks on Inmates

Over Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the far-right former military man exhibited scant mercy for the country's jailed individuals.

“What’s the need to provide those lowlifes a good life?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up there, you simply need is not rape, abduction or rob.”

Prison Facility Debate

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, several of whom this week inspected the complex in an obvious effort to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, claimed he expected the elderly leader to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and feared his location could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe digestive issues – the result of a life-threatening knife attack during the last election race – signified it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is extremely serious. He will not be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he added, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells containing forty detainees: “That’s practically one meter squared per prisoner.

“We talked to the convicts and they protest, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” continued the senator.

Supporters Voice Concerns

He is not the lone figure voicing opinions prior to the former president’s expected detention.

Authoring in a major newspaper, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the largest wrong in its record”.

“This is an injustice that gnaws the souls of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Mixed Public Reaction

It is possibly true considering the considerable support Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. But his predicted incarceration has also warmed the hearts of millions individuals who think he should be jailed for conspiring to prevent the incoming president from becoming president – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the sitting president's political party, said: “No one wants Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to get dignified treatment – but dignified handling behind bars. He must not persist being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time praising the tough conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their privileges. “Recently has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that human rights should not be for criminals – opted to tour a prison to discover what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, degrading treatment”.

Possible Prison Environment

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his probable destination seems to be a nearby penitentiary for officers and other “special” prisoners called Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more adequate than those in the main prison, although still a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while living in the stunning leader's home, about 20 kilometers away.

According to reports, the room Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – about the area of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre terrace. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a television and even a minibar in his cell as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources suggested.

Partisan Reactions

Senator Lucas denounced the rumoured idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his fate in the {