Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities concluded he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the elderly politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or watch it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could "pray for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of the former president's transfer to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a background of arranging to request asylum through a diplomatic representation", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around 8 miles from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a detention review on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
The former president was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on the eighth of January, many his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The security forces stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
