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He battled the legal system and the legal system triumphed.

Sixty days subsequent to receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for attempting to “destroy” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro at last looks jail-bound.

Expected Jailing

The adjudicated coup-monger – who had been living under house arrest in his mansion while a number of court processes and petitions play out – is widely expected to be imprisoned in the coming days, during growing talk that he will be moved to a notorious top-security prison.

Past Remarks on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long time in politics, the far-right former paratrooper displayed scant compassion for the country's inmates.

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

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish there, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Jail Facility Debate

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, four of whom this week visited the facility in an obvious effort to prevent the judiciary from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, stated he anticipated the 70-year-old politician to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and was concerned his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s severe intestinal issues – the consequence of a almost deadly assault during the 2018 election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His health is highly critical. He won’t be able to manage if they take him to Papuda … It could be awful,” said the senator, who also worried about packed cells and the quality of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing four dozen inmates: “It's almost one square meter per detainee.

“We conversed to the inmates and they grumble, naturally, of the terrible meals,” added the senator.

Supporters Voice Concerns

He is not the sole person expressing views before the ex-leader's expected incarceration.

Writing in a major publication, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and alleged Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its history”.

“It is an injustice that eats away the souls of millions of Brazilians,” the former minister said.

Mixed Popular Opinion

That may be true due to the substantial support Bolsonaro holds on the right-wing. But his anticipated incarceration has also pleased the hearts of numerous others who feel he should be incarcerated for conspiring to stop the incoming president from taking power – and even conspiring to have him killed.

Reimont Otoni, a representative for the current leader's political party, commented: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Nobody desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to receive respectful handling – but proper treatment behind bars. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

He observed how Bolsonaro supporters, who have spent years praising the severe treatment of convicts, had suddenly woken up to their privileges. “Only now has the extreme right – which has always claimed that civil liberties were not for offenders – opted to visit a penitentiary to find out what conditions are actually like,” he remarked.

“He is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, insulting treatment”.

Potential Jail Environment

In spite of speculation that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about thousands of inmates, his more likely location seems to be a adjacent penitentiary for officers and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

His potential cell are far more comfortable than those in the main prison, although nonetheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro had while living in the spectacular presidential palace, around 20 kilometers away.

Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – about the area of vehicle spaces – and contains a 12 sq metre bathroom with a bathing area and a 12 sq metre terrace. “The ex-president might be allowed to have a set and also a minibar in his quarters as long as they were donated by his family,” information indicated.

Ideological Responses

The lawmaker denounced the rumoured proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will rule on his outcome in the {