Bolsonaro-supporting lawmakers, including Senator Damares Alves, conducted a technical visit to the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, raising concerns about health, food, and hygiene access. Columnist Thiago Amparo critiques the selective embrace of human rights by the group, particularly amid Jair Bolsonaro's conviction. He stresses that rights apply universally, including to prisoners like Bolsonaro.
In a column published in Folha de S.Paulo on November 26, 2025, lawyer and professor Thiago Amparo reflects on Jair Bolsonaro's recent conviction, dubbing him 'Jair, the prisoner.' Amparo mocks the Bolsonaro camp's selective rediscovery of human rights norms, ditching the old adage 'a good bandit is a dead bandit' now that it applies to their leader.
The technical visit to the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, led by lawmakers including Senator Damares Alves of the Republicanos party, highlighted issues like inadequate access to health, food, and hygiene. Amparo cites stark data: between 2013 and 2023, Brazil recorded 17,000 prisoner deaths, with about 95% of those from 2018 to 2022 being preventable.
Despite criticisms of Papuda's conditions, Bolsonaro will serve his sentence at the Federal Police Superintendence, not the prison, due to equal treatment akin to Lula's case, in line with human rights principles. Amparo argues this shows the universality of rights, which safeguard everyone, including coup plotters and former presidents.
The author points to the historic imprisonment of generals for attacks on democracy as transitional justice. 'There is no pacification without justice and no justice without human rights,' writes Amparo, suggesting a similar process for past coups could have prevented impunity. He concludes that Bolsonaro should thank human rights advocates for the protection he now receives.