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He battled the law and justice prevailed.

Two months following being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” Brazil’s democracy, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who's been subject to home confinement in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and challenges proceed – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, during increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known maximum security penitentiary.

Previous Comments on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the right-wing former paratrooper exhibited scant sympathy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we give these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be screwed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, you simply need is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Jail Location Speculation

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, four of whom this week visited the prison in an obvious bid to dissuade the supreme court from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, said he predicted the 70-year-old figure to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and worried his destination could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s serious digestive problems – the consequence of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It would be awful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about packed cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas noted observing cells accommodating 40 inmates: “That’s almost one square metre per detainee.

“We conversed to the convicts and they protest, of course, of the terrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Supporters React

The senator isn't the lone figure voicing opinions ahead of the former president’s expected incarceration.

Penning in a major daily, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the greatest political injustice in its past”.

“It represents an injustice that gnaws the hearts of countless of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Varied Public Response

This could be true considering the significant backing Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. But his anticipated jailing has also pleased the hearts of numerous other people who believe he ought to be imprisoned for planning to stop the incoming president from taking power – and additionally plotting to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the sitting administration's political party, commented: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in solitary confinement. Nobody wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to receive dignified care – but proper care in prison. He can’t carry on being his own prison warden for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the severe treatment of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their rights. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has consistently argued that human rights were not for lawbreakers – decided to tour a prison to discover what circumstances are really like,” he said.

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

Possible Jail Environment

Regardless of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which presently houses about thousands of detainees, his more likely location seems to be a adjacent jail for officers and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are far more comfortable than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the impressive presidential palace, about a short distance away.

As per sources, the cell Bolsonaro could anticipate occupy in Papudinha is about 24 square meters – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and features a 130 square foot bathroom with a bathing area and a 130 square foot terrace. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and even a cooler in his room as long as they were provided by his family,” information indicated.

Ideological Reactions

He denounced the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of revenge” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his outcome in the {