In a surprising turn of events, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has discovered a novel way to reduce his 27-year prison sentence – by reading books. Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year for plotting a coup, has taken advantage of a little-known law in Brazil that allows inmates to shave off four days from their sentence for every book they read.
The former far-right leader, who once famously declared that he had no time to read, now finds himself immersed in a court-approved reading list that includes works on indigenous rights, racism, the environment, and the violence of Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship – a regime that Bolsonaro openly supported.
The approved reading list is a far cry from Bolsonaro’s reported literary preferences. During the 2018 presidential election, he named a book by the notorious army colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, who was accused of torturing hundreds of prisoners during the dictatorship, as his favorite.
Despite his apparent aversion to reading, Bolsonaro’s lawyers have seized on the legal loophole, and a Supreme Court judge has now authorized the former president to participate in the sentence reduction scheme. To benefit from the scheme, Bolsonaro must submit written reports to prison authorities to prove that he has indeed read the books.
The reading list includes a diverse range of titles, from the 950-page “Um Defeito de Cor” (A Colour Defect) by Ana Maria Gonçalves, which tells the history of Brazil from the perspective of a Black woman, to the children’s non-fiction picture book “Democracy!” by English-born author-illustrator Philip Bunting.
Some of the books, such as Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” and Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” are over 1,000 pages long, posing a significant challenge for the former president, who has never been known as a bibliophile.
As Bolsonaro embarks on this unexpected literary journey, it remains to be seen whether his newfound enthusiasm for reading will translate into a genuine appreciation for the works on the list, which delve into themes that were often at odds with his own political views and rhetoric during his time in office.