Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This included trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said data from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of the former president's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative US President President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical care, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was convicted of leading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 national vote.
