🔗 Share this article

He battled justice and justice prevailed.

Sixty days after getting a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks jail-bound.

Expected Jailing

The adjudicated instigator – who had been under residential detention in his residence while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, amid mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a infamous high-security facility.

Past Remarks on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the far-right former soldier showed scant compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“Why should we give these scoundrels a good life?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be messed, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”

Incarceration Destination Discussion

However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious effort to discourage the supreme court from sending him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, stated he expected the septuagenarian figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the result of a near-fatal assault during the last election race – implied it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He will not be able to cope if they take him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the quality of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding forty detainees: “That’s practically one square meter per detainee.

“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the awful food,” remarked the senator.

Allies Voice Concerns

The senator isn't the sole person speaking out prior to the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.

Authoring in a major daily, one more backer, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and claimed Brazil was about to see “the greatest unfairness in its history”.

“This is an unfairness that erodes the spirits of countless Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Divided Popular Reaction

This could be true given the considerable backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated jailing has also pleased the spirits of many other people who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for plotting to stop his successor from assuming office – and even conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a congressman for the incumbent administration's Workers’ party, commented: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in segregation. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We want him to obtain respectful handling – but dignified handling while incarcerated. He cannot carry on being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time applauding the harsh conditions of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the far-right – which has always claimed that basic rights were not for offenders – chosen to inspect a jail to discover what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.

“He is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, demeaning handling”.

Potential Jail Environment

Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about fourteen thousand inmates, his probable assigned facility looks to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are far more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the stunning leader's home, approximately 12 miles away.

According to information, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – approximately the dimensions of two parking spaces – and features a 130 square foot bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter veranda. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a television and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information suggested.

Ideological Reactions

The lawmaker denounced the talked-about proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his outcome in the {