Jailhouse Surprise: The FormerPresident Jair Bolsonaro Faces Life Behind Bars

He battled justice and the legal system triumphed.

Two months following getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” the nation's political system, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now seems destined for incarceration.

Imminent Incarceration

The adjudicated plotter – who's been under residential detention in his residence while a number of legal procedures and petitions unfold – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the near future, amid growing rumors that he will be moved to a well-known maximum security facility.

Previous Statements on Inmates

Over Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the far-right former soldier exhibited little sympathy for the country's jailed individuals.

“What’s the need to offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be fucked, end of story. That's my view.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to end up there, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Location Discussion

But the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled supporters, several of whom this week toured the prison in an obvious effort to prevent the supreme court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, stated he predicted the elderly leader to be incarcerated in the following week and a half and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the outcome of a almost deadly knife attack during the last election race – meant it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is highly critical. He will not be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” said the senator, who also worried about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “It's almost one meter squared per inmate.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the horrible meals,” added the senator.

Backers React

The senator isn't the only voice speaking out prior to the one-time head of state's expected detention.

Authoring in a prominent publication, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the largest political injustice in its history”.

“This is an injustice that erodes the hearts of countless Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Divided General Reaction

It is possibly true given the considerable backing Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. But his anticipated imprisonment has also gladdened the hearts of numerous others who think he deserves to be jailed for planning to block his successor from becoming president – and also plotting to have him murdered.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting president's political party, stated: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in segregation. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to obtain proper handling – but respectful handling while incarcerated. He cannot persist being his self-appointed guard for his whole life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have spent years praising the severe conditions of convicts, had abruptly woken up to their rights. “Recently has the far-right – which has always asserted that basic rights should not be for offenders – chosen to tour a jail to learn what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.

“He is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading treatment”.

Potential Jail Facilities

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently holds about thousands of prisoners, his probable destination appears to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

His potential cell are far more adequate than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while living in the spectacular presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

Based on information, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 sq metre restroom with a shower and a 12 square meter balcony. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a set and also a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were donated by his family,” sources stated.

Partisan Responses

He criticized the speculated proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the supreme court judge who presided over Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his fate in the {