Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of plotting a military coup in September and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" emerged.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on online platforms on last Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a embassy office", a statement said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to leave his home for medical care, saying he needed frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which involved plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was sworn in without problem on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by Bolsonaro whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
