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He battled justice and the law triumphed.

Two months after receiving a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” the nation's democratic institutions, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks headed to prison.

Anticipated Imprisonment

The adjudicated instigator – who had been subject to house arrest in his residence while a series of court processes and petitions proceed – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the next few days, amidst growing talk that he will be transferred to a infamous high-security facility.

Past Comments on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the right-wing former military man showed minimal sympathy for Brazil’s inmates.

“Why should we offer these scoundrels a comfortable existence?” he once pondered. “They should just get messed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to end up behind bars, the only thing required is to avoid sexual assault, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Destination Debate

However the idea of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has horrified backers, four of whom this week visited the prison in an apparent bid to dissuade the supreme court from banishing him there.

Senator Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, said he expected the 70-year-old leader to be incarcerated in the coming fortnight and was concerned his destination could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute digestive problems – the outcome of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 political campaign – implied it would be hazardous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is extremely serious. He cannot to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It could be terrible,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the standard of inmate food.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas recalled witnessing cells containing forty prisoners: “It's virtually one square meter per prisoner.

“We talked to the inmates and they grumble, of course, of the awful cuisine,” added the senator.

Allies React

He is not the only voice speaking out before the one-time head of state's anticipated detention.

Writing in a prominent newspaper, a different supporter, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and asserted Brazil was about to experience “the biggest unfairness in its history”.

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

Mixed Popular Opinion

This could be accurate given the considerable support Bolsonaro maintains on the right-wing. But his anticipated jailing has also pleased the hearts of many other people who feel he should be jailed for plotting to block his successor from taking power – and even scheming to have him murdered.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the incumbent administration's allied group, stated: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. No one desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We wish him to obtain dignified care – but dignified handling in prison. He must not continue being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have spent years praising the harsh treatment of prisoners, had abruptly woken up to their entitlements. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has consistently argued that basic rights were not for lawbreakers – chosen to tour a prison to discover what situations are actually like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a lawbreaker,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he merited “shameful, demeaning handling”.

Possible Prison Conditions

Regardless of speculation that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which now holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his probable destination looks to be a close jail for officers and other “special” prisoners known as Papudinha (Minor Papuda).

The accommodations are much more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro experienced while occupying the stunning official residence, approximately 20 kilometers away.

As per information, the room Bolsonaro could likely occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – about the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 130 square foot WC with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a TV and also a cooler in his room as long as they were provided by his family,” information suggested.

Ideological Responses

Senator Lucas criticized the rumoured proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a form of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his outcome in the {