Jailhouse Shock: The Ex-President Bolsonaro Confronts Time in Prison

He fought the law and the legal system prevailed.

Two months following receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Imminent Imprisonment

The adjudicated coup-monger – who had been under home confinement in his estate while a series of court processes and petitions play out – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the near future, amidst mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security facility.

Past Statements on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the conservative former soldier showed little sympathy for the country's jailed individuals.

“Why should we give these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They ought to simply be messed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “If you don’t want to finish there, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”

Incarceration Destination Debate

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, several of whom this week toured the prison in an apparent bid to dissuade the high court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, said he expected the septuagenarian figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious digestive ailments – the consequence of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 presidential political campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is very grave. He won’t be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he added, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the standard of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered observing cells holding forty detainees: “That is practically one square meter per inmate.

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

Supporters React

Lucas is not the only voice voicing opinions before the one-time head of state's expected imprisonment.

Penning in a major newspaper, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest wrong in its history”.

“It is an wrong that gnaws the souls of millions Brazilian citizens,” he stated.

Varied Popular Opinion

This could be accurate given the substantial backing Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also pleased the feelings of many other people who think he deserves to be jailed for plotting to stop his successor from taking power – and also plotting to have him murdered.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting president's allied group, said: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to obtain respectful handling – but respectful care while incarcerated. He can’t persist being his own prison warden for his whole life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the tough treatment of convicts, had abruptly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that basic rights are not for criminals – decided to inspect a penitentiary to learn what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, degrading conduct”.

Possible Incarceration Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently contains about fourteen thousand inmates, his expected location appears to be a adjacent jail for officers and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

The accommodations are much more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the impressive presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

As per reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 sq metre WC with a water facility and a 12 square meter veranda. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a TV and even a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Ideological Responses

Senator Lucas condemned the rumoured idea to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his future in the {

John Giles
John Giles

A tech enthusiast and business strategist with over a decade of experience in digital transformation and startup consulting.