Papuda prison or paradise suite? Bolsonaro’s upgraded cell reignite row over punishment versus privilege

BRASÍLIA, Jan 16 — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro was on Thursday transferred to prison, where he will serve his sentence for orchestrating a failed coup in “more favourable” conditions, according to a court order.

The 70-year-old former leader was sentenced to 27 years in prison last year for his attempts to cling to power following his narrow 2022 re-election loss to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro’s family has repeatedly complained on podcasts and social media about the conditions in which he was previously being held in a room at police headquarters, including excessive noise from an air conditioner, inadequate space and the food.

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes criticized a bid to “delegitimize the regular and legal fulfillment of the prison sentence.”

He elaborated for several pages in his ruling on the dire conditions facing inmates in Brazil’s overcrowded prisons, highlighting the already “exclusive conditions” under which Bolsonaro is serving his sentence.

He criticized the complaints as apparent demands for Bolsonaro’s jail time to be converted to “a hotel stay or a holiday resort.”

Bolsonaro had been detained in a 12-square-meter (129.1-square-foot) room with a television, fridge and air-conditioning at police headquarters in Brasilia.

He was on Thursday transferred to the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, also in the capital, where he will be held in a special detention unit five times the size of his current room, with a kitchen, private outdoor area and a double bed, according to the court.

Moraes said Bolsonaro was being held “with complete isolation from the other prisoners in the complex.”

One of the former president’s sons, Carlos Bolsonaro, accused Moraes of “cruelty” and slammed “the transfer to a harsh prison environment”, on the X social network.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers have appealed, in vain, for him to be permitted house arrest, on health grounds.

His latest request, filed this week, is pending a medical evaluation.

Bolsonaro had been under house arrest before the official start of his sentence, however was moved to prison after he took a soldering iron to his ankle monitoring bracelet in what the court saw as an escape attempt.

Health woes

The former army captain, who has suffered serious health complications related to a 2018 stabbing on the campaign trail, spent a week in hospital in December following surgery for a groin hernia and treatment for recurring hiccups.

Earlier this month he underwent tests after a fall in prison, but no serious injury was revealed.

Brazil’s Congress late last year passed a law which could dramatically reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence.

Lula vetoed the legislation on January 8, but lawmakers will have the final say, as Congress has the right to override his veto.

The 80-year-old president is seeking a fourth term in office in October elections.

Bolsonaro has anointed his eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his political heir and presidential candidate. —AFP