Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's former president, departs from a scheduled surgery at the DF Star Hospital in Brasilia, Brazil, on 14 September 2025.

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was taken to hospital on Friday after feeling unwell at the prison where he is serving a sentence for plotting a coup, his son said.

“My father is on his way to the hospital, once again. Preliminary reports indicate that he woke up with chills and vomited heavily,” Flavio Bolsonaro, who is a senator and presidential hopeful, reported on X.

Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup attempt after his 2022 election loss. He has suffered from recurring health issues after he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign event in 2018.

Brazil’s next presidential election is slated for October, and, despite his incarceration, Bolsonaro remains a central figure on the country’s political stage.

The former president has designated his eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro, as the right-wing candidate to challenge the incumbent leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lawyers for Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump, earlier this week asked the Supreme Court to allow Darren Beattie, the US State Department’s new advisor on Brazil, to visit Bolsonaro in prison on 18 March.

But Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Thursday revoked the authorisation he himself had granted after the Brazilian government cautioned against the meeting.