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He contested justice and justice won.

A couple of months after receiving a quarter-century plus sentence for seeking to “eradicate” the nation's democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro at last appears jail-bound.

Expected Incarceration

The found-guilty instigator – who's been under residential detention in his residence while a number of judicial steps and challenges play out – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the coming days, during growing speculation that he will be transferred to a well-known top-security penitentiary.

Historical Statements on Prisoners

Throughout Bolsonaro’s four-decade time in politics, the conservative former soldier showed scant compassion for the country's jailed individuals.

“For what reason must we provide those scoundrels a good life?” he once pondered. “They ought to simply be fucked, end of story. That’s what I reckon.”

In another instance, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to wind up in prison, all you have to do is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Prison Facility Debate

Yet the idea of Bolsonaro himself landing in the Papuda maximum security prison in Brasília has horrified supporters, a group of four this week toured the prison in an obvious bid to discourage the supreme court from sending him there.

Izalci Lucas, a politician from Bolsonaro’s allied group who was part of that quartet, claimed he predicted the elderly politician to be incarcerated in the next 10 days and feared his location could be Papuda.

Lucas claimed Bolsonaro’s acute gut ailments – the result of a near-fatal knife attack during the 2018 election race – implied it would be dangerous to keep the one-time head of state there. “His condition is extremely serious. He will not be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” he commented, who also voiced anxiety about overcrowded cells and the condition of jail cuisine.

When inspecting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells containing 40 prisoners: “That’s almost one meter squared per prisoner.

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

Supporters Voice Concerns

Lucas is not the lone figure voicing opinions ahead of the one-time head of state's expected incarceration.

Penning in a major newspaper, another ally, the ex- government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” end to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” public service and claimed Brazil was about to see “the biggest wrong in its record”.

“This is an unfairness that gnaws the spirits of many of Brazilians,” he stated.

Divided General Opinion

It is possibly accurate considering the considerable support Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. Yet his anticipated incarceration has also warmed the spirits of many other people who believe he should be incarcerated for planning to prevent his successor from becoming president – and also scheming to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a representative for the sitting leader's Workers’ party, said: “Not a soul wants Bolsonaro to be placed in a dark cell. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro not to be fed or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to get respectful handling – but respectful treatment in prison. He cannot persist being his personal jailer for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro backers, who have for a long time praising the harsh conditions of inmates, had abruptly become aware to their rights. “Just now has the far-right – which has always argued that human rights were not for criminals – opted to tour a prison to learn what conditions are really like,” he stated.

“He is a offender,” the congressman maintained, but that did not mean he deserved “humiliating, insulting treatment”.

Likely Prison Environment

In spite of talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now houses about fourteen thousand inmates, his expected destination looks to be a adjacent jail for police officers and other “special” detainees called Papudinha (Small Papuda).

The accommodations are far more comfortable than those in the larger jail, although nevertheless a world away from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while living in the stunning presidential palace, about a short distance away.

According to sources, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha has about 260 square feet – roughly the size of a couple of car spots – and includes a 12 sq metre restroom with a shower and a 130 square foot terrace. “He could be allowed to have a television and also a cooler in his room as long as they were provided by his relatives,” information indicated.

Partisan Reactions

Senator Lucas denounced the speculated proposal to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “a type of revenge” on the part of the presiding magistrate who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will decide his outcome in the {