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He battled the law and the law triumphed.

A couple of months after being handed a 27-year sentence for trying to “destroy” the nation's democracy, one-time leader Jair Bolsonaro finally appears headed to prison.

Expected Imprisonment

The adjudicated plotter – who had been living under home confinement in his estate while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out – is largely predicted to be imprisoned in the next few days, during growing talk that he will be sent to a well-known top-security facility.

Previous Statements on Inmates

Over Bolsonaro’s four-decade political career, the conservative former military man displayed minimal compassion for the country's inmates.

“For what reason must we offer these lowlifes a comfortable existence?” he previously wondered. “They deserve to be screwed, period. That's my view.”

On another occasion, Bolsonaro declared: “If you don’t want to finish there, the only thing required is not sexual assault, kidnap or rob.”

Prison Destination Debate

However the prospect of Bolsonaro himself ending up in the Papuda top-security prison in Brasília has shocked allies, a group of four this week inspected the facility in an seeming bid to dissuade the judiciary from sending him there.

Senator Lucas, a senator from Bolsonaro’s Liberal party who was among that group, claimed he expected the elderly figure to be jailed in the coming fortnight and feared his location could be Papuda.

The senator argued Bolsonaro’s acute gut ailments – the consequence of a almost deadly knife attack during the last political campaign – meant it would be dangerous to keep the ex-leader there. “His health is very grave. He will not be able to cope if they send him to Papuda … It would be dreadful,” said the senator, who also expressed concern about cramped cells and the condition of inmate food.

While visiting Papuda, Lucas remembered seeing cells containing forty inmates: “That’s practically one square meter per prisoner.

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

Supporters React

Lucas is not the sole person speaking out before the ex-leader's anticipated incarceration.

Authoring in a major daily, a different supporter, the ex- cabinet member Fábio Wajngarten, bemoaned the “harsh” conclusion to Bolsonaro’s “spotless” public service and asserted Brazil was about to witness “the largest political injustice in its record”.

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

Varied General Response

This could be true given the significant following Bolsonaro retains on the conservative side. But his anticipated imprisonment has also pleased the hearts of many other people who feel he should be imprisoned for conspiring to prevent the elected leader from taking power – and also scheming to have him assassinated.

Congressman Otoni, a representative for the current leader's allied group, said: “Not a soul wishes Bolsonaro to be placed in a hole. No one desires Bolsonaro to be sent in isolation. Nobody wants Bolsonaro to go hungry or for him to have to rest on hard ground. We want him to receive respectful treatment – but respectful handling while incarcerated. He cannot continue being his personal jailer for his lifetime.”

The congressman noted how Bolsonaro supporters, who have long celebrating the severe treatment of inmates, had unexpectedly woken up to their entitlements. “Recently has the extreme right – which has repeatedly asserted that civil liberties are not for criminals – chosen to visit a jail to learn what conditions are truly like,” he said.

“He is a criminal,” Otoni insisted, but that did not mean he earned “degrading, degrading conduct”.

Possible Incarceration Conditions

In spite of rumors that Bolsonaro could be moved to Papuda, which now contains about 14,000 inmates, his expected destination seems to be a nearby jail for officers and other “unique” detainees known as Papudinha (Little Papuda).

His potential cell are far more comfortable than those in the main prison, although still a far cry from the opulence Bolsonaro had while occupying the impressive presidential palace, approximately 12 miles away.

According to reports, the room Bolsonaro could expect to reside in in Papudinha measures about 24 sq metres – roughly the area of a couple of car spots – and features a 12 sq metre bathroom with a shower and a 130 square foot veranda. “Bolsonaro would be permitted to have a TV and additionally a cooler in his room as long as they were supplied by his relatives,” sources indicated.

Ideological Responses

The lawmaker denounced the talked-about idea to send the one-time head of state to Papuda as “an act of retaliation” on the part of the presiding magistrate who presided over Bolsonaro’s legal case and will determine his outcome in the {