Jailhouse Shock: Brazil's FormerPresident Bolsonaro Confronts Life Behind Bars

He fought the legal system and justice won.

A couple of months subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro at last seems headed to prison.

Expected Jailing

The found-guilty instigator – who's been under residential detention in his residence while a set of legal procedures and challenges play out – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, during increasing talk that he will be transferred to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.

Past Comments on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the far-right former paratrooper showed scant compassion for the country's jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we give those dirtbags a easy time?” he once mused. “They should just get screwed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to end up there, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or rob.”

Incarceration Location Debate

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, a group of four this week toured the complex in an obvious bid to discourage the supreme court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, stated he expected the septuagenarian figure to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal issues – the outcome of a almost deadly stabbing during the last election race – implied it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is highly critical. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the condition of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells containing 40 prisoners: “That is almost one square meter per prisoner.

“We talked to the convicts and they complain, naturally, of the awful cuisine,” continued the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the sole person voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s expected incarceration.

Penning in a major newspaper, one more backer, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the greatest unfairness in its history”.

“It is an unfairness that gnaws the souls of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Mixed General Reaction

It is possibly true given the substantial following Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. However his predicted jailing has also warmed the spirits of many other people who think he should be jailed for conspiring to prevent the elected leader from assuming office – and even conspiring to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a congressman for the current president's political party, said: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to obtain dignified treatment – but respectful care while incarcerated. He can’t persist being his own prison warden for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years applauding the severe handling of convicts, had suddenly realized to their entitlements. “Just now has the far-right – which has repeatedly claimed that civil liberties were not for lawbreakers – decided to inspect a prison to learn what circumstances are truly like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, insulting handling”.

Likely Prison Environment

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now houses about thousands of detainees, his more likely destination appears to be a nearby jail for officers and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are much more adequate than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro had while residing in the impressive official residence, approximately 20 kilometers away.

According to reports, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – about the dimensions of two parking spaces – and features a 130 square foot restroom with a water facility and a 12 sq metre terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a minibar in his cell as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Partisan Comments

He denounced the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his future in the {