Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than over two decades in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the potential of Bolsonaro's move to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is situated around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his political opponent, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plan which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the backing of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been incited by him whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.