Brazil's Bolsonaro Gets a Second Chance at Prison by Reading Books – Not Exactly His Cup of Tea
In a bizarre move, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been given the opportunity to reduce his 27-year prison sentence through an unconventional means: reading books. Bolsonaro's lawyers have taken advantage of a little-known provision in Brazil's penal code that allows inmates to cut their sentences by four days for each title read.
Bolsonaro, who has never been known as a bookworm, was once quoted saying, "Sorry, I don't have time to read." However, it appears his team has found a way to make reading work for him. The former far-right president has been authorized to take part in the scheme after a request from his legal team.
The approved reading list includes Brazilian works on Indigenous rights, racism, the environment, and the violence meted out by Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship – a regime Bolsonaro openly supported. One title, Ana Maria Gonçalves' 950-page "Um Defeito de Cor" (A Colour Defect), tells the history of Brazil from the point of view of a Black woman.
The list also features children's non-fiction picture book "Democracy!" by English-born author-illustrator Philip Bunting. Some of the books, like Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote", are over 1,000 pages long. It is unclear if Bolsonaro has ever cracked open one of these tomes.
To benefit from the sentence reduction scheme, prisoners must prove they have actually read the books by submitting written reports to prison authorities. Bolsonaro's team has likely found a creative way to get him through this part.
Bolsonaro has been transferred to a maximum security prison in Brasília after spending Christmas imprisoned at a federal police base. It remains to be seen if he'll actually finish reading any of the books on his list. One thing is certain, though: Bolsonaro's reading habits are about to take a drastic turn from what we can expect.
In a bizarre move, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been given the opportunity to reduce his 27-year prison sentence through an unconventional means: reading books. Bolsonaro's lawyers have taken advantage of a little-known provision in Brazil's penal code that allows inmates to cut their sentences by four days for each title read.
Bolsonaro, who has never been known as a bookworm, was once quoted saying, "Sorry, I don't have time to read." However, it appears his team has found a way to make reading work for him. The former far-right president has been authorized to take part in the scheme after a request from his legal team.
The approved reading list includes Brazilian works on Indigenous rights, racism, the environment, and the violence meted out by Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship – a regime Bolsonaro openly supported. One title, Ana Maria Gonçalves' 950-page "Um Defeito de Cor" (A Colour Defect), tells the history of Brazil from the point of view of a Black woman.
The list also features children's non-fiction picture book "Democracy!" by English-born author-illustrator Philip Bunting. Some of the books, like Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote", are over 1,000 pages long. It is unclear if Bolsonaro has ever cracked open one of these tomes.
To benefit from the sentence reduction scheme, prisoners must prove they have actually read the books by submitting written reports to prison authorities. Bolsonaro's team has likely found a creative way to get him through this part.
Bolsonaro has been transferred to a maximum security prison in Brasília after spending Christmas imprisoned at a federal police base. It remains to be seen if he'll actually finish reading any of the books on his list. One thing is certain, though: Bolsonaro's reading habits are about to take a drastic turn from what we can expect.
Jair Bolsonaro gettin all soft & literate lololol i mean who knew he had it in him? his team is straight fire for gettin him into this scheme tho i cant wait to see him struggle thru those 950 pages of Ana Maria Gonçalves' book 
and can u even imagine him tryin to finish leo tolstoy's war & peace like what even is that?? lololol anywayz, this is def a lowkey interesting twist in his case
, like, who needs prison time when you got books to read? But at the same time, I'm totally not sure if this is gonna work... I mean, Bolsonaro's never been known for his love of reading, and now he's stuck in a max-security prison with all these huge books 
. I don't know if even reading 4 pages a day is gonna cut it for him, or if he'll just skim through 'em like he does everything else... 
But hey, at least he's getting some exposure to different perspectives on Indigenous rights and racism, right? That's gotta count for something.
. and what's with all these long books? doesn't he have some shorter ones in there to get him started 
.
Like, Bolsonaro's not exactly known for being book-smart or anything. And what's with all these serious topics on his reading list? Doesn't he have any interests that don't involve, like, politics and stuff?
He might just be pretending to read them for the sake of reducing his sentence. It's all kinda shady, you know? On the other hand...maybe this is a chance for him to learn something new and grow as a person 
Yeah, right!
I mean, what's next? Getting arrested for reading too much Reddit? 
. And what's with the booklist tho? Brazilian works on Indigenous rights and racism? Are they tryin' to turn him into some kinda hippie or somethin'? 
. I'm not sure if I'd want to be the one assigned to give him those written reports though 
. Can't wait to see how this whole thing plays out!
. they gotta have access to books and education cuz knowledge is power right? 
. And can you imagine having to finish reading all those books? 
.