The former Brazilian leader has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the surveillance device to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a statement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be permitted to leave his home for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the presidential race to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to assassinate his opponent and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were detained.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.
