Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The ex-president was sentenced of plotting a armed takeover in September and sentenced more than 27 years in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a invitation to a supporters' gathering that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a filing authorising the detention, the magistrate said information from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's move to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brasilia, is located around 13km from his dwelling.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative American leader Donald Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
The former president was determined responsible of heading a scheme aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which included plans to kill his opponent and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over his judicial proceedings.
The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the federal district, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The justices found that the rioters had been incited by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, reestablish control 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 campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.
