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He contested the legal system and the legal system won.

Sixty days following getting a twenty-seven-year sentence for attempting to “destroy” Brazil’s democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro now looks headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The convicted coup-monger – who has been living under home confinement in his mansion while a number of judicial steps and challenges proceed – is broadly anticipated to be jailed in the next few days, amidst mounting speculation that he will be transferred to a infamous top-security prison.

Previous Comments on Convicts

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade public life, the far-right ex- paratrooper displayed little mercy for Brazil’s prison population.

“What’s the need to give these scoundrels a good life?” he once mused. “They should just get messed, full-fucking-stop. That’s what I reckon.”

At another time, Bolsonaro declared: “Unless you desire to finish in prison, you simply need is to avoid rape, abduction or theft.”

Incarceration Facility Debate

However the possibility of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda high-security prison in Brasília has appalled backers, several of whom this week toured the complex in an obvious effort to dissuade the high court from transferring him there.

Izalci Lucas, a lawmaker from Bolsonaro’s political party who was among that group, said he expected the septuagenarian leader to be imprisoned in the coming fortnight and worried his assigned prison could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s serious intestinal issues – the outcome of a life-threatening stabbing during the last presidential campaign – meant it would be risky to keep the ex-leader there. “His [health] situation is highly critical. He won’t be able to manage if they move him to Papuda … It would be terrible,” said the senator, who also worried about overcrowded cells and the standard of prison meals.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas recalled seeing cells holding four dozen prisoners: “That is almost one meter squared per detainee.

“We conversed to the inmates and they protest, of course, of the terrible cuisine,” continued the senator.

Allies React

Lucas is not the lone figure expressing views before the ex-leader's expected detention.

Writing in a leading newspaper, one more backer, the former government official Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “brutal” finale to Bolsonaro’s “impeccable” time in office and claimed Brazil was about to witness “the biggest wrong in its past”.

“It is an wrong that eats away the spirits of millions people in Brazil,” he stated.

Varied Public Opinion

That may be true given the substantial backing Bolsonaro retains on the Brazilian right. However his expected imprisonment has also warmed the hearts of numerous individuals who feel he ought to be jailed for planning to prevent his successor from taking power – and also scheming to have him assassinated.

The lawmaker, a congressman for the sitting administration's political party, commented: “Nobody wishes Bolsonaro to be put in a dark cell. No one desires Bolsonaro to be put in solitary confinement. Not a soul desires Bolsonaro to lack food or for him to have to lie on concrete. We want him to receive proper care – but proper care behind bars. He must not persist being his self-appointed guard for his entire life.”

Otoni was struck by how Bolsonaro allies, who have spent years praising the tough conditions of prisoners, had abruptly realized to their privileges. “Recently has the far-right – which has consistently asserted that human rights should not be for criminals – decided to visit a jail to find out what situations are truly like,” he stated.

“Bolsonaro is a offender,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he merited “humiliating, insulting conduct”.

Likely Prison Environment

Despite talk that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which currently holds about thousands of detainees, his more likely destination appears to be a adjacent penitentiary for officers and other “unique” detainees referred to as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

The accommodations are much more adequate than those in the primary facility, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro experienced while residing in the spectacular presidential palace, about 12 miles away.

As per information, the cell Bolsonaro could expect to occupy in Papudinha measures about 24 square meters – roughly the area of two parking spaces – and features a 130 square foot WC with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be authorized to have a set and also a minibar in his cell as long as they were provided by his relatives,” the report indicated.

Partisan Reactions

The lawmaker denounced the talked-about proposal to send the former leader to Papuda as “a type of payback” on the part of the judicial authority who led Bolsonaro’s coup trial and will rule on his outcome in the {