He battled the law and the legal system won.
Sixty days after getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “eradicate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally appears jail-bound.
The found-guilty coup-monger – who had been under home confinement in his residence while a number of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the near future, amidst mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security prison.
Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the conservative ex- military man showed little compassion for Brazil’s inmates.
“What’s the need to give those dirtbags a easy time?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be screwed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”
On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to wind up behind bars, the only thing required is not rape, kidnap or rob.”
Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, a group of four this week inspected the complex in an seeming effort to discourage the judiciary from sending him there.
The senator, a politician from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old leader to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.
The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute digestive ailments – the result of a almost deadly knife attack during the 2018 presidential political campaign – meant it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He cannot to cope if they move him to Papuda … It could be awful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the condition of jail cuisine.
During his tour Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells containing forty prisoners: “It's virtually one square metre per detainee.
“We talked to the prisoners and they complain, naturally, of the horrible meals,” remarked the senator.
The senator isn't the lone figure voicing opinions prior to the ex-leader's expected imprisonment.
Penning in a leading daily, a different supporter, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the largest wrong in its record”.
“This is an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.
This could be true given the considerable support Bolsonaro holds on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the hearts of many other people who feel he ought to be imprisoned for conspiring to block the incoming president from assuming office – and additionally conspiring to have him assassinated.
The lawmaker, a representative for the incumbent leader's Workers’ party, said: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. No one wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to get dignified treatment – but proper treatment behind bars. He can’t carry on being his own prison warden for his whole life.”
The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time celebrating the harsh handling of inmates, had suddenly woken up to their rights. “Just now has the extreme right – which has consistently claimed that civil liberties are not for criminals – opted to tour a prison to discover what circumstances are actually like,” he said.
“He is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, degrading handling”.
Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently contains about thousands of detainees, his more likely assigned facility seems to be a nearby prison for officers and other “particular” inmates called Papudinha (Small Papuda).
His potential cell are much more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although still a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro had while living in the stunning presidential palace, around 12 miles away.
Based on sources, the cell Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – approximately the dimensions of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 sq metre restroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre terrace. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a TV and additionally a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” the report suggested.
Senator Lucas denounced the speculated proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his future in the {
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