Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in last fall and given more than 27 years in prison, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This encompassed seeking to disable his electronic bracelet and a summons to a public vigil that could enable a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the custody, the judge said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: Will you battle for your homeland, or see it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President President Trump, causing him to enact a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a custody hearing on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the High Court to allow him to complete his entire prison term under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of leading a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the national vote to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was inaugurated without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement intervened and around 1,500 people were detained.
The judges found that the rioters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence extremely harsh.
He was also banned from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.
