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He battled the legal system and the legal system won.

Sixty days subsequent to getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for seeking to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks destined for incarceration.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who has been living under residential detention in his estate while a series of legal procedures and challenges play out – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, during growing rumors that he will be transferred to a well-known high-security penitentiary.

Previous Comments on Convicts

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year political career, the conservative former paratrooper showed scant mercy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we give these lowlifes a easy time?” he once mused. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to wind up behind bars, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”

Jail Facility Discussion

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, several of whom this week visited the prison in an apparent effort to prevent the judiciary from sending him there.

Izalci Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, claimed he expected the septuagenarian figure to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal ailments – the consequence of a almost deadly knife attack during the last political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is very grave. He won’t be able to handle it if they send him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about packed cells and the condition of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled observing cells accommodating forty detainees: “It's virtually one square metre per prisoner.

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

Supporters React

Lucas is not the lone figure speaking out ahead of the ex-leader's expected incarceration.

Writing in a major publication, one more backer, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to see “the greatest unfairness in its past”.

“It is an unfairness that eats away the spirits of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Varied Popular Opinion

That may be correct considering the substantial support Bolsonaro maintains on the conservative side. However his predicted jailing has also gladdened the feelings of many individuals who believe he deserves to be jailed for conspiring to block the elected leader from taking power – and even plotting to have him murdered.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's allied group, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to receive dignified care – but proper care in prison. He cannot persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time praising the harsh conditions of prisoners, had abruptly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that human rights are not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a prison to find out what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, demeaning conduct”.

Potential Jail Conditions

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now houses about thousands of prisoners, his probable destination looks to be a adjacent prison for officers and other “particular” detainees known as Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are much more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a world away from the luxury Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the spectacular official residence, approximately 12 miles away.

According to reports, the cell Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – about the area of two parking spaces – and contains a 12 sq metre restroom with a bathing area and a 12 square meter veranda. “He could be permitted to have a set and even a cooler in his room as long as they were donated by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Ideological Responses

Senator Lucas denounced the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his future in the {