Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities concluded he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a government overthrow in September and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under house arrest pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after fresh information came to light.
This involved trying to remove his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the custody, the judge said data from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's decision was the potential of his transfer to embassies near the home, considering that the probes revealed a record of planning to seek refuge through a diplomatic representation", a declaration said.
The judicial paperwork highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that he be authorized to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was found guilty of heading a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Justice Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by him whose scheme, they said, was for the country's army to step in, reestablish control and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also prohibited from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him running in the 2026 national vote.
