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He fought the legal system and the legal system won.

Sixty days following being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last seems destined for incarceration.

Imminent Imprisonment

The convicted coup-monger – who's been subject to residential detention in his mansion while a number of court processes and challenges play out – is widely expected to be jailed in the near future, amidst mounting talk that he will be moved to a infamous maximum security prison.

Previous Remarks on Convicts

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the right-wing former soldier exhibited scant sympathy for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“Why should we offer these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Unless you desire to finish there, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Facility Speculation

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, a group of four this week visited the complex in an obvious effort to discourage the high court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was one of the visitors, stated he expected the 70-year-old figure to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and worried his location could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal ailments – the consequence of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 presidential campaign – signified it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the quality of jail cuisine.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells holding four dozen inmates: “It's practically one square meter per detainee.

“We spoke to the prisoners and they grumble, unsurprisingly, of the awful food,” remarked the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out prior to the former president’s anticipated incarceration.

Authoring in a leading daily, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the largest wrong in its past”.

“It represents an injustice that gnaws the spirits of countless of Brazilians,” he stated.

Divided Public Opinion

That may be accurate considering the significant following Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his expected imprisonment has also warmed the spirits of numerous others who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to block the incoming president from assuming office – and even scheming to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the current leader's allied group, commented: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. No one desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to receive respectful care – but respectful care in prison. He cannot carry on being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years applauding the harsh handling of convicts, had suddenly become aware to their rights. “Recently has the extreme right – which has repeatedly argued that human rights are not for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a prison to discover what situations are really like,” he said.

“He is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, degrading handling”.

Possible Prison Environment

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently houses about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely location appears to be a close penitentiary for law enforcement and other “unique” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a far cry from the luxury Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular official residence, about 20 kilometers away.

According to sources, the room Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – roughly the size of vehicle spaces – and includes a 12 sq metre WC with a shower and a 12 square meter veranda. “He could be authorized to have a TV and also a cooler in his cell as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” information indicated.

Ideological Reactions

The lawmaker denounced the speculated idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will decide his future in the {