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He battled the legal system and justice prevailed.

Two months following getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks destined for incarceration.

Imminent Imprisonment

The found-guilty plotter – who had been living under house arrest in his estate while a number of judicial steps and appeals play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the coming days, amidst increasing talk that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security facility.

Past Remarks on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s 40-year public life, the far-right ex- military man displayed scant mercy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we offer these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be screwed, full-fucking-stop. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to end up behind bars, the only thing required is not rape, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Destination Discussion

However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, several of whom this week toured the facility in an obvious effort to dissuade the supreme court from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, said he predicted the septuagenarian figure to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and worried his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe digestive issues – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the last political campaign – implied it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His health is very grave. He cannot to cope if they take him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he added, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the condition of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells containing forty prisoners: “It's practically one meter squared per prisoner.

“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the horrible cuisine,” added the senator.

Backers Speak Out

Lucas is not the lone figure expressing views before the former president’s anticipated incarceration.

Authoring in a leading publication, a different supporter, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest political injustice in its past”.

“This is an injustice that erodes the spirits of countless people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Divided Popular Reaction

That may be correct due to the significant following Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. But his anticipated jailing has also warmed the feelings of many others who think he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to block the elected leader from assuming office – and even scheming to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, commented: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. No one desires Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to get respectful handling – but proper care while incarcerated. He must not carry on being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time praising the severe treatment of inmates, had unexpectedly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly claimed that civil liberties are not for lawbreakers – opted to inspect a jail to learn what circumstances are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading treatment”.

Likely Incarceration Environment

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now houses about 14,000 detainees, his more likely assigned facility seems to be a close prison for police officers and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are considerably more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while living in the spectacular leader's home, approximately 20 kilometers away.

Based on sources, the room Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – roughly the dimensions of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a bathing area and a 130 square foot balcony. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a TV and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” the report indicated.

Partisan Reactions

He condemned the speculated plan to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his fate in the {