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He battled the legal system and the legal system triumphed.

A couple of months subsequent to getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems headed to prison.

Imminent Jailing

The found-guilty instigator – who's been living under residential detention in his estate while a set of judicial steps and appeals proceed – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the coming days, during growing talk that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security penitentiary.

Historical Comments on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the right-wing former military man displayed minimal mercy for the country's prison population.

“Why should we provide those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They should just get messed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish there, you simply need is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Destination Debate

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, several of whom this week visited the prison in an seeming bid to dissuade the judiciary from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the 70-year-old figure to be jailed in the next 10 days and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s severe digestive issues – the result of a life-threatening stabbing during the 2018 election race – signified it would be risky to keep the former president there. “His [health] situation is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he added, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the condition of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells accommodating 40 inmates: “It's virtually one meter squared per detainee.

“We talked to the convicts and they complain, of course, of the terrible meals,” continued the senator.

Backers React

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the former president’s expected imprisonment.

Authoring in a leading daily, a different supporter, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the biggest political injustice in its record”.

“It is an wrong that erodes the hearts of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Divided General Reaction

That may be true given the substantial following Bolsonaro holds on the conservative side. However his predicted incarceration has also pleased the hearts of many others who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for plotting to block the incoming president from assuming office – and even plotting to have him murdered.

The lawmaker, a representative for the current leader's allied group, stated: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in segregation. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to get proper handling – but proper care while incarcerated. He must not continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long celebrating the severe conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly realized to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has always asserted that civil liberties should not be for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a penitentiary to find out what situations are really like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “degrading, degrading conduct”.

Likely Prison Conditions

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now holds about thousands of detainees, his more likely destination looks to be a nearby penitentiary for police officers and other “unique” prisoners known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

Its cells are much more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the stunning presidential palace, approximately 20 kilometers away.

According to reports, the cell Bolsonaro could likely reside in in Papudinha has about 24 sq metres – approximately the size of vehicle spaces – and includes a 12 sq metre WC with a water facility and a 130 square foot terrace. “Bolsonaro would be allowed to have a set and even a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his family,” sources indicated.

Political Comments

He condemned the rumoured plan to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his future in the {