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He battled the law and the legal system prevailed.

Two months after getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” the nation's democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally appears headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted coup-monger – who's been under residential detention in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and petitions play out – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the next few days, during mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a infamous high-security facility.

Historical Statements on Prisoners

During Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the conservative former soldier displayed little compassion for Brazil’s jailed individuals.

“Why should we provide those dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once mused. “They ought to simply be fucked, period. That's my view.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to wind up in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, kidnap or theft.”

Incarceration Facility Discussion

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled allies, four of whom this week toured the facility in an apparent bid to discourage the supreme court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the septuagenarian figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and feared his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s serious gut problems – the outcome of a near-fatal knife attack during the last election race – signified it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is highly critical. He won’t be able to handle it if they take him to Papuda … It could be terrible,” said the senator, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the standard of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding forty detainees: “That is practically one square metre per detainee.

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

Backers Speak Out

The senator isn't the sole person speaking out before the former president’s anticipated incarceration.

Penning in a major newspaper, another ally, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to see “the greatest political injustice in its record”.

“It is an unfairness that erodes the souls of many people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Divided Public Reaction

It is possibly true considering the significant following Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. Yet his predicted jailing has also gladdened the feelings of many others who believe he should be imprisoned for planning to block his successor from taking power – and even scheming to have him killed.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the current administration's Workers’ party, commented: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be placed in a dungeon. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. No one wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We desire him to receive dignified care – but respectful care in prison. He cannot carry on being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years celebrating the harsh handling of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that civil liberties should not be for criminals – opted to inspect a prison to discover what situations are really like,” he said.

“The former president is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, demeaning handling”.

Likely Jail Conditions

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently holds about 14,000 prisoners, his expected assigned facility looks to be a close jail for law enforcement and other “particular” inmates referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the main prison, although still a world away from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while living in the spectacular official residence, about 12 miles away.

According to sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the area of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 square meter bathroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter veranda. “He could be authorized to have a set and additionally a minibar in his room as long as they were provided by his loved ones,” the report stated.

Political Reactions

He condemned the rumoured idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will determine his fate in the {