Supporters and critics gathered outside the Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia on Tuesday as former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro started to serve his 27-year prison sentence for leading an attempted coup.

It has come as a surprise to many in Brazil who doubted he would ever end up behind bars for the coup attempt that designed to keep him in office after losing the 2022 presidential elections.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the case, ruled that the former president will remain in custody after being arrested on Saturday.

The far-right leader had been under house arrest since August and was detained on Saturday after attempting to break his ankle monitor.

Bolsonaro attributed the attempt to “hallucinations,” a claim that de Moraes dismissed in his preventive arrest warrant.

Bolsonaro will have no contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters.

His 12-square-meter room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television, and a desk, according to the federal police.

He will have free access to his doctors and lawyers, but others will need Supreme Court approval to see him.

Brazilian law would also have allowed the 70-year-old man to be transferred to a local penitentiary or a prison at a military facility in Brasilia, the capital.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court judges for attempting to abolish Brazil's democracy after his electoral defeat in 2022.

The plot included plans to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Judge de Moraes. The plan also involved inciting an insurrection in early 2023.

The former president was also found guilty of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

Bolsonaro has always denied having committed any crime.

AP video by Lucas Dumphreys