The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a armed takeover in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he was staying under house arrest pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after "new facts" were revealed.
This included attempting to break his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could "allow for a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a document approving the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the former leader's aim to disable the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to fight with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The court filing highlights that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist United States President Trump, prompting him to enact a fifty percent tax on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also asked that the former president be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed ongoing care for pulmonary infections and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in 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 murder the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. The current president was took office without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, the capital city.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to intervene, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was intended to stop him competing in the next presidential race.
