Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was convicted of planning a government overthrow in last fall and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a filing authorising the arrest, Justice Moraes said information from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the disorder caused by the protest called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our country."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the investigations revealed a record of planning to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 13km from his dwelling.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist United States President President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. The current president was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many his followers stormed and vandalised official structures in the federal district, Brasília.
The law enforcement intervened and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the protesters had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the moment, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.
