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He contested the law and the legal system won.

A couple of months following being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “destroy” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears destined for incarceration.

Imminent Incarceration

The convicted plotter – who's been living under home confinement in his residence while a series of court processes and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, amidst increasing talk that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security penitentiary.

Previous Comments on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the conservative former paratrooper exhibited little sympathy for Brazil’s prison population.

“Why should we offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They should just get fucked, end of story. That's my view.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up behind bars, you simply need is not rape, abduction or rob.”

Incarceration Location Discussion

But the idea of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison top-security prison in Brasília has shocked supporters, a group of four this week visited the complex in an apparent bid to discourage the judiciary from sending him there.

The senator, a senator from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, claimed he expected the septuagenarian leader to be imprisoned in the following week and a half and feared his destination could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal ailments – the outcome of a life-threatening assault during the 2018 presidential campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is very grave. He won’t be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It will be terrible,” he added, who also worried about cramped cells and the quality of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells accommodating 40 inmates: “It's virtually one meter squared per detainee.

“We spoke to the convicts and they complain, unsurprisingly, of the terrible food,” remarked the senator.

Supporters React

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the one-time head of state's anticipated incarceration.

Authoring in a major newspaper, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” political career and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the largest unfairness in its history”.

“It is an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of millions people in Brazil,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed General Opinion

That may be correct due to the considerable following Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. But his predicted jailing has also pleased the feelings of many other people who believe he should be jailed for planning to block the incoming president from assuming office – and also scheming to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's political party, commented: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to receive respectful handling – but dignified handling behind bars. He must not carry on being his self-appointed guard for his lifetime.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the tough handling of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their privileges. “Recently has the far-right – which has repeatedly asserted that human rights are not for lawbreakers – opted to inspect a penitentiary to discover what circumstances are truly like,” he said.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he merited “degrading, demeaning conduct”.

Potential Incarceration Conditions

Despite rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now contains about fourteen thousand inmates, his more likely location looks to be a adjacent jail for police officers and other “special” inmates called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are far more pleasant than those in the larger jail, although nonetheless a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while living in the spectacular official residence, approximately a short distance away.

According to sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the area of two parking spaces – and features a 12 sq metre restroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter balcony. “He could be permitted to have a TV and also a small fridge in his quarters as long as they were provided by his family,” sources indicated.

Ideological Reactions

Senator Lucas denounced the talked-about plan to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who led Bolsonaro’s legal case and will decide his future in the {