🔗 Share this article

He battled the legal system and the law triumphed.

Sixty days after being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Expected Imprisonment

The found-guilty coup-monger – who's been under residential detention in his estate while a number of court processes and appeals play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the near future, amidst increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a notorious top-security facility.

Past Comments on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the conservative ex- military man exhibited minimal mercy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They deserve to be messed, period. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to end up behind bars, you simply need is not sexual assault, abduction or rob.”

Jail Facility Debate

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, several of whom this week inspected the complex in an apparent effort to dissuade the judiciary from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, stated he expected the septuagenarian leader to be jailed in the next 10 days and worried his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the result of a life-threatening assault during the 2018 election race – signified it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the condition of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells holding four dozen detainees: “It's almost one square meter per inmate.

“We spoke to the inmates and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the awful meals,” continued the senator.

Supporters Speak Out

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

Penning in a leading daily, a different supporter, the ex- communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to see “the biggest political injustice in its history”.

“It is an injustice that eats away the hearts of countless of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Divided Popular Reaction

This could be true due to the significant backing Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. But his expected incarceration has also warmed the spirits of numerous other people who believe he ought to be imprisoned for conspiring to prevent the elected leader from becoming president – and additionally conspiring to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a congressman for the current leader's Workers’ party, said: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We wish him to obtain dignified handling – but proper handling while incarcerated. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years applauding the harsh treatment of convicts, had suddenly realized to their privileges. “Just now has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that basic rights are not for offenders – opted to inspect a penitentiary to find out what situations are truly like,” he said.

“He is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, degrading conduct”.

Potential Jail Environment

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now holds about 14,000 prisoners, his more likely destination seems to be a nearby penitentiary for law enforcement and other “unique” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are much more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the stunning presidential palace, around 12 miles away.

According to reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – roughly the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 sq metre restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a television and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Political Reactions

He criticized the speculated idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his future in the {