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He battled justice and the legal system triumphed.

Two months after getting a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “eradicate” the nation's political system, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro now appears jail-bound.

Imminent Imprisonment

The convicted instigator – who has been under house arrest in his mansion while a number of court processes and challenges unfold – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, during mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known maximum security prison.

Historical Remarks on Prisoners

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative ex- paratrooper exhibited little sympathy for Brazil’s prison population.

“What’s the need to provide those lowlifes a easy time?” he once mused. “They deserve to be screwed, period. That's my opinion.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Should you not wish to end up behind bars, all you have to do is to avoid sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Jail Facility Discussion

Yet the possibility of Bolsonaro himself winding up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked backers, four of whom this week toured the prison in an seeming bid to discourage the high court from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator 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 feared his assigned prison could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe digestive ailments – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the last election race – meant it would be dangerous to keep the former president there. “His condition is extremely serious. He will not be able to cope if they move him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” he added, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the condition of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells accommodating four dozen detainees: “That’s practically one meter squared per inmate.

“We conversed to the prisoners and they protest, unsurprisingly, of the terrible meals,” remarked the senator.

Backers Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out ahead of the ex-leader's predicted incarceration.

Penning in a prominent newspaper, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, deplored the “harsh” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its record”.

“It is an injustice that gnaws the spirits of countless Brazilian citizens,” Wajngarten wrote.

Mixed Popular Response

This could be correct due to the substantial support Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. But his anticipated imprisonment has also warmed the feelings of millions other people who believe he should be incarcerated for plotting to stop his successor from taking power – and even conspiring to have him murdered.

The lawmaker, a representative for the current leader's political party, said: “Nobody desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a dungeon. No one wishes Bolsonaro to be put in isolation. No one wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to receive proper handling – but proper handling behind bars. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time applauding the tough conditions of inmates, had abruptly woken up to their rights. “Just now has the extreme right – which has consistently asserted that human rights should not be for criminals – opted to tour a penitentiary to discover what situations are truly like,” he said.

“The former president is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “shameful, degrading handling”.

Likely Jail Environment

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently houses about thousands of detainees, his expected assigned facility looks to be a adjacent jail for police officers and other “particular” prisoners called Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are much more pleasant than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro had while occupying the impressive presidential palace, approximately 12 miles away.

According to reports, the room Bolsonaro could anticipate reside in in Papudinha has about 260 square feet – approximately the dimensions of two parking spaces – and includes a 130 square foot bathroom with a shower and a 12 square meter terrace. “He could be allowed to have a set and additionally a cooler in his cell as long as they were donated by his relatives,” sources stated.

Ideological Responses

The lawmaker condemned the talked-about idea to send the ex-president to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s proceedings and will rule on his future in the {