According to the former president’s wife, he fell from his prison bed while sleeping and hit his head.
Published January 6, 2026
Brazil’s imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro fell and hit his head in his cell, but his request to go to a hospital was denied by the country’s top judge.
The 70-year-old right-wing leader fell out of bed while sleeping and hit his head on furniture, his wife Michelle Bolsonaro wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
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“We are going to the hospital. My loved one will be tested,” Michel Bolsonaro said.
However, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes rejected Bolsonaro’s request to leave prison immediately to undergo tests at a hospital in Brasilia.
Federal police said in a statement that Bolsonaro received initial treatment in the morning, adding that federal police doctors “found minor injuries” and determined that he did not require hospitalization.
“Referral to hospital will depend on the permission of the Supreme Court,” it added.
Bolsonaro, who was stabbed in the abdomen while campaigning in 2018, has a history of hospitalization and surgery related to the attack.
Citing a police report, De Moraes said there was no need to immediately take Bolsonaro to the hospital. The judge said his legal team has the right to request testing of Bolsonaro, but that they must schedule the test in advance and provide information to justify the procedure.
Bolsonaro underwent a series of medical procedures in December to treat a hernia and hiccups.
He was discharged from hospital on January 1 and returned to the federal police station in Brasilia, where he is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup d’état after losing the 2022 presidential election.
