Overview
- Bolsonaro’s lawyers filed the request on Thursday to Supreme Court minister Alexandre de Moraes, who will decide whether he can participate in the remission-by-reading initiative.
- Under the CNJ-regulated program, each approved book read and reviewed cuts four days from a sentence, capped at 12 works per year for a maximum reduction of 48 days.
- Participation depends on prior judicial authorization, access to the unit’s catalog, and a handwritten report for each book that is evaluated by a prison commission and then homologated by the court.
- The Distrito Federal system keeps an authorized list featuring works on democracy, dictatorship and racism, including Ainda Estou Aqui, Crime and Punishment and Animal Farm.
- Bolsonaro is serving 27 years and 3 months at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasília, with a recent precedent set in December when Moraes allowed co-defendant Gen. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira to work, study and read for remission.