🔗 Share this article

He fought justice and justice won.

Two months following being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” the nation's political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems headed to prison.

Anticipated Jailing

The adjudicated coup-monger – who has been subject to residential detention in his mansion while a series of legal procedures and petitions unfold – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, during mounting speculation that he will be moved to a infamous high-security facility.

Previous Statements on Convicts

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative former paratrooper showed scant compassion for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to give these dirtbags a easy time?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to wind up there, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Destination Speculation

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, a group of four this week visited the facility in an obvious attempt to discourage the high court from sending him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, stated he predicted the septuagenarian politician to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the result of a almost deadly stabbing during the 2018 presidential election race – implied it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is extremely serious. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the quality of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding four dozen detainees: “That is virtually one meter squared per detainee.

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

Allies Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the lone figure expressing views prior to the former president’s predicted imprisonment.

Penning in a major publication, one more backer, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest political injustice in its past”.

“It represents an unfairness that eats away the spirits of many people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Response

This could be true considering the significant support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also pleased the spirits of many others who believe he deserves to be jailed for planning to stop the incoming president from taking power – and additionally conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the incumbent leader's allied group, stated: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. No one desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get proper treatment – but dignified treatment in prison. He must not carry on being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have long celebrating the tough conditions of inmates, had suddenly realized to their privileges. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly claimed that human rights should not be for offenders – opted to inspect a jail to learn what circumstances are actually like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, insulting handling”.

Potential Prison Conditions

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently holds about 14,000 detainees, his expected assigned facility appears to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “particular” inmates known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although still a distant from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the spectacular official residence, around 12 miles away.

Based on reports, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 260 square feet – approximately the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 square meter bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre veranda. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a minibar in his cell as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” sources stated.

Political Responses

The lawmaker condemned the speculated proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his future in the {