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He contested the law and the legal system triumphed.

Sixty days after being handed a twenty-seven-year sentence for trying to “eradicate” the nation's political system, former president Jair Bolsonaro now appears headed to prison.

Imminent Jailing

The adjudicated instigator – who's been living under home confinement in his residence while a number of judicial steps and challenges unfold – is widely expected to be jailed in the coming days, amid mounting speculation that he will be sent to a well-known maximum security prison.

Past Comments on Inmates

Throughout Bolsonaro’s long public life, the right-wing ex- paratrooper showed minimal compassion for the country's prison population.

“What’s the need to offer those lowlifes a easy time?” he once mused. “They deserve to be messed, end of story. That's my opinion.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro stated: “If you don’t want to end up there, all you have to do is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Incarceration Location Debate

Yet the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, four of whom this week toured the prison in an obvious bid to prevent the high court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, claimed he expected the septuagenarian politician to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and was concerned his location could be Papuda.

He asserted Bolsonaro’s acute intestinal issues – the consequence of a life-threatening assault during the 2018 presidential campaign – signified it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He won’t be able to handle it if they move him to Papuda … It will be awful,” he added, who also worried about packed cells and the condition of prison meals.

During his tour Papuda, Lucas remembered witnessing cells containing 40 inmates: “It's practically one square meter per inmate.

“We talked to the prisoners and they protest, naturally, of the terrible cuisine,” remarked the senator.

Allies Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the lone figure speaking out before the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.

Writing in a major publication, another ally, the former cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, lamented the “harsh” finale to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the greatest unfairness in its past”.

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

Mixed Popular Reaction

This could be accurate considering the substantial support Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. Yet his predicted jailing has also gladdened the hearts of millions others who feel he deserves to be imprisoned for planning to prevent the incoming president from assuming office – and also plotting to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a politician for the sitting leader's allied group, commented: “Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to be sent in a hole. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Nobody wishes Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to sleep on the floor. We desire him to get dignified care – but proper handling in prison. He can’t persist being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro allies, who have long celebrating the harsh handling of prisoners, had abruptly realized to their rights. “Recently has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that human rights were not for lawbreakers – opted to visit a penitentiary to discover what situations are truly like,” he remarked.

“The former president is a offender,” he affirmed, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, demeaning treatment”.

Potential Incarceration Conditions

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be transferred to Papuda, which currently contains about thousands of inmates, his more likely location seems to be a close penitentiary for police officers and other “particular” prisoners referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are far more comfortable than those in the primary facility, although nevertheless a far cry from the comfort Bolsonaro had while occupying the stunning official residence, around a short distance away.

Based on information, the room Bolsonaro could likely inhabit in Papudinha is about 24 sq metres – roughly the size of vehicle spaces – and features a 12 sq metre bathroom with a water facility and a 130 square foot veranda. “The ex-president might be permitted to have a TV and even a minibar in his quarters as long as they were provided by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Political Responses

He 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 oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will determine his future in the {