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He contested the legal system and the legal system prevailed.

Two months subsequent to receiving a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” the nation's democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro now seems jail-bound.

Expected Jailing

The adjudicated instigator – who's been living under residential detention in his estate while a set of court processes and appeals unfold – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the coming days, during mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a notorious high-security penitentiary.

Past Remarks on Inmates

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the far-right former military man showed little mercy for the country's prison population.

“For what reason must we provide these lowlifes a good life?” he once mused. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to wind up there, all you have to do is not rape, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Facility Debate

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious effort to prevent the judiciary from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was among that group, claimed he expected the 70-year-old leader to be jailed in the next 10 days and feared his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious gut ailments – the outcome of a near-fatal assault during the last election race – meant it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is highly critical. He will not be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells containing forty inmates: “That’s almost one square metre per inmate.

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

Supporters React

Lucas is not the only voice voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s expected imprisonment.

Penning in a major daily, another ally, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest unfairness in its record”.

“It is an injustice that eats away the spirits of many Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed General Response

That may be accurate due to the considerable backing Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. But his expected imprisonment has also pleased the hearts of many other people who think he ought to be jailed for conspiring to block his successor from becoming president – and additionally scheming to have him murdered.

Reimont Otoni, a congressman for the current administration's Workers’ party, stated: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to get respectful care – but respectful handling behind bars. He cannot persist being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the tough handling of convicts, had suddenly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the extreme right – which has repeatedly argued that basic rights should not be for criminals – decided to visit a jail to discover what circumstances are actually like,” he stated.

“The former president is a lawbreaker,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, demeaning conduct”.

Possible Jail Facilities

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now holds about 14,000 inmates, his more likely location appears to be a nearby jail for officers and other “unique” inmates known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are much more comfortable than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the spectacular presidential palace, about 20 kilometers away.

Based on sources, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – approximately the area of two parking spaces – and features a 130 square foot bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre veranda. “He could be authorized to have a TV and also a minibar in his room as long as they were provided by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Partisan Reactions

He criticized the rumoured idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of retaliation” on the part of the judicial authority who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his future in the {