Jair Bolsonaro, the former far-right Brazilian president, has been authorised to participate in a scheme that allows inmates to reduce their sentences by reading books. The scheme grants a reduction of four days per book read, and Bolsonaro's legal team requested his inclusion after he was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup.
However, Bolsonaro has never been known as an avid reader. He once stated, 'Sorry, I don't have time to read. It's been three years since I read a book.' The approved reading list includes works on Indigenous rights, racism, the environment, and the 1964-85 dictatorship, a regime Bolsonaro has openly supported.
Among the titles are Ana Maria Gonçalves' 950-page novel 'Um Defeito de Cor', which tells Brazilian history from a Black woman's perspective, and 'Democracy!', a children's non-fiction picture book. Other books include Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' and Miguel de Cervantes' 'Don Quixote', both over 1,000 pages.
To benefit from the scheme, prisoners must submit written reports proving they have read the books. Bolsonaro, who was transferred to a maximum security prison in Brasília after spending Christmas at a federal police base, once named a book by army colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra as his favourite. Ustra is accused of torturing prisoners during the dictatorship, but his book is not on the approved list.
