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He fought justice and justice won.

A couple of months after getting a 27-year sentence for attempting to “annihilate” Brazil’s democracy, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro finally seems destined for incarceration.

Expected Jailing

The convicted coup-monger – who has been living under house arrest in his residence while a series of legal procedures and challenges unfold – is broadly anticipated to be incarcerated in the near future, during growing speculation that he will be sent to a infamous top-security facility.

Historical Remarks on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s 40-year time in politics, the conservative former soldier exhibited minimal compassion for Brazil’s prison population.

“Why should we give these scoundrels a easy time?” he previously wondered. “They should just get messed, period. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up in prison, you simply need is not rape, kidnap or theft.”

Prison Destination Speculation

But the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda prison maximum security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, several of whom this week toured the facility in an seeming attempt to dissuade the judiciary from transferring him there.

Senator Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s political party who was one of the visitors, claimed he predicted the elderly leader to be jailed in the next 10 days and feared his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s severe gut problems – the consequence of a life-threatening knife attack during the 2018 political campaign – signified it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His health is very grave. He cannot to manage if they move him to Papuda … It will be dreadful,” he commented, who also expressed concern about overcrowded cells and the standard of jail cuisine.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas noted seeing cells accommodating forty prisoners: “That’s practically one meter squared per detainee.

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

Allies React

Lucas is not the only voice speaking out prior to the former president’s expected detention.

Writing in a leading newspaper, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “severe” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and alleged Brazil was about to witness “the greatest unfairness in its past”.

“This is an unfairness that eats away the souls of countless people in Brazil,” he stated.

Divided Public Opinion

This could be accurate considering the significant backing Bolsonaro retains on the right-wing. Yet his predicted jailing has also gladdened the hearts of many individuals who believe he deserves to be jailed for conspiring to stop his successor from taking power – and even scheming to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a congressman for the sitting leader's allied group, said: “Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in a hole. No one wants Bolsonaro to be sent in solitary confinement. Nobody wants Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to lie on concrete. We desire him to get proper treatment – but dignified handling while incarcerated. He must not continue being his personal jailer for his whole life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have for a long time applauding the harsh conditions of convicts, had unexpectedly become aware to their rights. “Only now has the conservative fringe – which has consistently asserted that human rights should not be for lawbreakers – decided to visit a prison to learn what circumstances are really like,” he said.

“He is a lawbreaker,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “humiliating, insulting handling”.

Likely Jail Facilities

Despite rumors that Bolsonaro could be sent to Papuda, which currently holds about fourteen thousand inmates, his expected assigned facility seems to be a close penitentiary for officers and other “unique” prisoners known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

Its cells are far more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a distant from the opulence Bolsonaro enjoyed while occupying the impressive leader's home, around 12 miles away.

According to sources, the accommodation Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 square meter WC with a shower and a 12 square meter balcony. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a set and additionally a small fridge in his room as long as they were supplied by his loved ones,” the report indicated.

Political Comments

The lawmaker denounced the talked-about idea to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his fate in the {