A
What happened
Jair Bolsonaro received a 27-year prison sentence last year for plotting a coup. A supreme court judge authorised him to participate in a Brazilian program that reduces sentences by four days for each book read, after a request from his legal team. Prisoners must submit written reports to prison authorities to prove they read the books. Bolsonaro was transferred this week to a maximum security prison in Brasília after spending Christmas imprisoned at a federal police base.
★
Key insights
-
1
Proof of reading is required for sentence reductions: Prisoners must submit written reports to prison authorities to benefit from the four-days-per-book sentence reduction scheme.
-
2
The approved reading list includes themes Bolsonaro opposed or supported differently: The list includes works on Indigenous rights, racism, the environment, and violence under the 1964–85 dictatorship, a regime Bolsonaro openly supported.
Takeaways
Bolsonaro has judicial authorisation to pursue sentence reductions through a book-reading program that requires written proof of completion.