Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The ex-president was sentenced of planning a armed takeover in last fall and sentenced more than a 27-year term in jail, but he remained under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a public vigil that could enable a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a document approving the detention, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so backers could "pray for his physical condition and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist US President Trump, leading him to impose a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also asked that he be allowed to leave his home for medical care, saying he required ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he had knowledge of a plan which included plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years later after the completion of his term.
The former president called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 presidential election.
