Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a preventative measure after fresh information were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could enable a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of the former president's move to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will experience a detention review on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he lost the national vote to his political opponent, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plot which included plans to assassinate the current president and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the backing of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked 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 period, the legal team called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the court case a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
