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He fought justice and the law won.

Two months subsequent to being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks headed to prison.

Expected Incarceration

The adjudicated coup-monger – who has been living under house arrest in his estate while a number of court processes and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the near future, amid mounting rumors that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security penitentiary.

Past Remarks on Convicts

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

“What’s the need to give these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They deserve to be screwed, period. That’s what I reckon.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to wind up there, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or rob.”

Prison Location Debate

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has horrified allies, a group of four this week toured the prison in an apparent effort to discourage the supreme court from sending him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, claimed he anticipated the septuagenarian politician to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal ailments – the consequence of a life-threatening stabbing during the last political campaign – implied it would be risky to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is highly critical. He won’t be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about cramped cells and the condition of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding 40 inmates: “That’s virtually one meter squared per inmate.

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

Supporters Voice Concerns

He is not the sole person expressing views ahead of the former president’s anticipated imprisonment.

Authoring in a major daily, one more backer, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” political career and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the biggest political injustice in its past”.

“This is an unfairness that eats away the hearts of many of Brazilians,” Wajngarten wrote.

Varied Popular Reaction

It is possibly accurate given the substantial support Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. Yet his predicted incarceration has also pleased the hearts of millions others who believe he should be jailed for plotting to stop his successor from becoming president – and also conspiring to have him killed.

The lawmaker, a politician for the current administration's Workers’ party, said: “No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in a dungeon. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. No one desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to obtain proper care – but proper handling behind bars. He must not continue being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”

He observed how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the tough conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their entitlements. “Just now has the far-right – which has repeatedly argued that human rights were not for offenders – chosen to visit a penitentiary to find out what circumstances are actually like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, insulting treatment”.

Potential Jail Environment

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now holds about thousands of prisoners, his more likely destination seems to be a nearby penitentiary for officers and other “special” inmates known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

The accommodations are considerably more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the impressive leader's home, about a short distance away.

As per information, the accommodation Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha is about 260 square feet – roughly the dimensions of a couple of car spots – and contains a 12 sq metre bathroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter veranda. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a television and even a minibar in his room as long as they were supplied by his family,” sources indicated.

Partisan Reactions

He condemned the rumoured idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his outcome in the {