🔗 Share this article

He contested the legal system and the law prevailed.

Sixty days following receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The found-guilty coup-monger – who's been subject to home confinement in his estate while a series of court processes and challenges play out – is broadly anticipated to be imprisoned in the near future, during mounting rumors that he will be moved to a well-known top-security facility.

Past Remarks on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the far-right ex- paratrooper exhibited little mercy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we offer those scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They should just get screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to finish behind bars, the only thing required is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Destination Speculation

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, four of whom this week inspected the prison in an apparent effort to discourage the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, said he anticipated the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the next 10 days and worried his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut problems – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the last political campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be awful,” said the senator, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the condition of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells containing forty prisoners: “That is practically one square metre per inmate.

“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the horrible cuisine,” continued the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the lone figure speaking out prior to the former president’s anticipated detention.

Penning in a leading newspaper, one more backer, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the largest wrong in its record”.

“This is an injustice that gnaws the souls of countless people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Opinion

It is possibly correct given the substantial backing Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. Yet his anticipated incarceration has also gladdened the spirits of millions others who think he should be imprisoned for plotting to prevent the elected leader from assuming office – and additionally conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the current leader's political party, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to receive respectful treatment – but respectful treatment while incarcerated. He can’t carry on being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time celebrating the tough conditions of prisoners, had abruptly woken up to their privileges. “Just now has the conservative fringe – which has repeatedly asserted that basic rights are not for offenders – opted to inspect a jail to discover what situations are actually like,” he remarked.

“He is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he earned “shameful, degrading treatment”.

Likely Jail Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently houses about thousands of inmates, his probable destination appears to be a nearby jail for law enforcement and other “special” prisoners called Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the impressive official residence, about a short distance away.

As per sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 260 square feet – about the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and contains a 130 square foot WC with a shower and a 130 square foot balcony. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a set and also a small fridge in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information stated.

Ideological Responses

The lawmaker criticized the talked-about proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his future in the {