Prison Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Life in Prison

He battled the legal system and the legal system won.

Sixty days following being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “destroy” Brazil’s democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears jail-bound.

Expected Incarceration

The found-guilty plotter – who has been living under home confinement in his estate while a series of court processes and challenges proceed – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the next few days, amidst mounting rumors that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security facility.

Previous Comments on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s long public life, the right-wing former soldier exhibited minimal compassion for the country's inmates.

“For what reason must we offer those lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, end of story. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to end up there, the only thing required is not sexual assault, kidnap or theft.”

Prison Facility Debate

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, several of whom this week inspected the facility in an apparent bid to dissuade the supreme court from transferring him there.

The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, stated he predicted the 70-year-old politician to be jailed in the coming fortnight and worried his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal ailments – the result of a almost deadly stabbing during the last political campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is highly critical. He cannot to handle it if they send him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the standard of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells accommodating four dozen inmates: “That is practically one meter squared per detainee.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they grumble, naturally, of the awful food,” continued the senator.

Allies Speak Out

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's predicted imprisonment.

Penning in a prominent publication, another ally, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest unfairness in its past”.

“It represents an wrong that eats away the spirits of many people in Brazil,” he stated.

Divided Popular Response

This could be true given the substantial support Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. But his anticipated incarceration has also warmed the feelings of many others who think he should be imprisoned for plotting to stop the incoming president from assuming office – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the incumbent administration's political party, said: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. No one desires Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. No one wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to get proper handling – but proper care behind bars. He can’t continue being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have long applauding the severe treatment of prisoners, had unexpectedly realized to their entitlements. “Just now has the extreme right – which has consistently claimed that civil liberties are not for offenders – decided to visit a prison to learn what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, insulting conduct”.

Potential Jail Facilities

Despite speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently contains about fourteen thousand prisoners, his expected assigned facility appears to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “special” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are much more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while living in the spectacular presidential palace, around a short distance away.

Based on sources, the room Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the dimensions of two parking spaces – and contains a 130 square foot bathroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre balcony. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a set and even a small fridge in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” information indicated.

Partisan Comments

Senator Lucas criticized the rumoured plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his fate in the {