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He contested justice and the law triumphed.

Sixty days subsequent to being handed a quarter-century plus sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now seems headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted plotter – who had been under house arrest in his residence while a series of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, during growing rumors that he will be transferred to a infamous high-security prison.

Historical Remarks on Convicts

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long public life, the conservative former paratrooper showed minimal mercy for Brazil’s prison population.

“What’s the need to give these dirtbags a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be messed, end of story. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “Should you not wish to wind up in prison, all you have to do is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Destination Debate

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda prison high-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, a group of four this week toured the prison in an seeming attempt to prevent the judiciary from banishing him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, said he predicted the elderly figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and feared his destination could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the outcome of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 presidential election race – meant it would be hazardous to keep the ex-leader there. “His condition is highly critical. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about packed cells and the condition of prison meals.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing four dozen inmates: “That’s almost one meter squared per prisoner.

“We conversed to the inmates and they complain, naturally, of the horrible food,” remarked the senator.

Backers Speak Out

The senator isn't the lone figure voicing opinions prior to the ex-leader's expected detention.

Penning in a leading newspaper, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “flawless” public service and claimed Brazil was about to experience “the greatest unfairness in its past”.

“It represents an unfairness that gnaws the hearts of millions people in Brazil,” the former minister said.

Mixed Popular Reaction

This could be accurate due to the considerable backing Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. However his anticipated jailing has also warmed the hearts of many others who think he deserves to be imprisoned for plotting to stop his successor from taking power – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a representative for the current leader's allied group, commented: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. No one wishes Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to receive proper treatment – but dignified handling while incarcerated. He cannot carry on being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long praising the harsh conditions of prisoners, had suddenly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the far-right – which has consistently claimed that human rights were not for offenders – decided to tour a jail to learn what situations are truly like,” he remarked.

“He is a criminal,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, degrading handling”.

Likely Jail Environment

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which presently holds about fourteen thousand prisoners, his more likely destination looks to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “special” inmates known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are far more pleasant than those in the main prison, although nevertheless a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the impressive official residence, about 12 miles away.

Based on information, the cell Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the area of vehicle spaces – and includes a 12 sq metre WC with a water facility and a 12 sq metre veranda. “The ex-president might be authorized to have a set and even a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” information indicated.

Political Responses

The lawmaker criticized the rumoured proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “an act of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his future in the {