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He fought the law and the legal system won.

Two months subsequent to receiving a 27-year sentence for seeking to “destroy” the nation's political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally appears headed to prison.

Anticipated Jailing

The adjudicated coup-monger – who's been subject to home confinement in his residence while a series of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the coming days, amidst mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security facility.

Historical Statements on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the conservative ex- soldier exhibited little compassion for Brazil’s inmates.

“What’s the need to offer those dirtbags a easy time?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish there, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Prison Destination Debate

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, a group of four this week toured the prison in an apparent bid to dissuade the supreme court from sending him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, said he predicted the septuagenarian leader to be jailed in the coming fortnight and worried his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal problems – the result of a almost deadly knife attack during the last political campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His condition is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be awful,” said the senator, who also worried about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells containing forty prisoners: “It's virtually one square metre per inmate.

“We spoke to the convicts and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the horrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Allies Speak Out

Lucas is not the sole person expressing views ahead of the former president’s predicted incarceration.

Authoring in a prominent newspaper, another ally, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “severe” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the greatest political injustice in its history”.

“This is an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of countless Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Varied Public Response

That may be correct due to the significant backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his expected imprisonment has also pleased the spirits of many other people who believe he ought to be incarcerated for conspiring to block his successor from becoming president – and also conspiring to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the current leader's political party, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. No one wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to get respectful treatment – but dignified treatment in prison. He cannot continue being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have long praising the harsh treatment of convicts, had abruptly become aware to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has consistently claimed that basic rights should not be for offenders – decided to inspect a prison to discover what circumstances are actually like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, degrading handling”.

Possible Prison Conditions

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently contains about 14,000 inmates, his more likely location appears to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “unique” inmates called Papudinha (Small Papuda).

Its cells are far more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the impressive leader's home, around a short distance away.

According to reports, the cell Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – about the size of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 square meter bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre balcony. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a television and even a minibar in his cell as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Ideological Responses

He condemned the talked-about plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his outcome in the {