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He fought the legal system and justice won.

A couple of months after getting a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems jail-bound.

Imminent Incarceration

The adjudicated instigator – who has been under residential detention in his residence while a set of court processes and appeals play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the next few days, amidst increasing speculation that he will be transferred to a notorious maximum security facility.

Historical Statements on Convicts

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative former paratrooper exhibited minimal mercy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we offer those scoundrels a good life?” he previously wondered. “They should just get messed, end of story. That's my view.”

At another time, Bolsonaro stated: “Unless you desire to wind up in prison, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Prison Destination Debate

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, four of whom this week toured the prison in an seeming effort to discourage the supreme court from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was one of the visitors, stated he expected the elderly leader to be imprisoned in the next 10 days and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe digestive issues – the outcome of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 election race – implied it would be hazardous to keep the former president there. “His health is very grave. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It could be dreadful,” he commented, who also worried about cramped cells and the condition of inmate food.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas noted witnessing cells accommodating four dozen prisoners: “That’s almost one square meter per detainee.

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

Supporters React

He is not the lone figure speaking out prior to the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.

Penning in a leading newspaper, a different supporter, the former communications minister Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” political career and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the greatest political injustice in its record”.

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

Divided Public Reaction

This could be correct given the substantial backing Bolsonaro maintains on the Brazilian right. Yet his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the spirits of numerous other people who think he should be imprisoned for plotting to block the incoming president from assuming office – and also conspiring to have him assassinated.

Reimont Otoni, a politician for the incumbent leader's allied group, stated: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in a dark cell. No one wants Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. No one desires Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We wish him to get respectful treatment – but dignified treatment in prison. He can’t carry on being his own prison warden for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro allies, who have for a long time applauding the harsh treatment of inmates, had abruptly realized to their privileges. “Just now has the extreme right – which has consistently argued that basic rights are not for lawbreakers – chosen to visit a jail to learn what circumstances are actually like,” he stated.

“The former president is a criminal,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, demeaning conduct”.

Potential Prison Conditions

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which now holds about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely location seems to be a adjacent prison for officers and other “special” detainees called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are considerably more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nonetheless a distant from the comfort Bolsonaro enjoyed while residing in the spectacular official residence, about 20 kilometers away.

Based on sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha has about 24 square meters – about the dimensions of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 square meter restroom with a water facility and a 12 square meter terrace. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a TV and additionally a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his family,” the report stated.

Political Reactions

Senator Lucas condemned the talked-about proposal to send the ex-president to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the supreme court judge who oversaw Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his fate in the {