Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The one-time leader was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he continued under home detention pending appeals.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This encompassed attempting to break his ankle monitor and a call for a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Concerns
In a document approving the arrest, the judge said information from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your country, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the investigations revealed a history of planning to request asylum through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader Donald Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that Bolsonaro be authorized to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plot which involved plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was prevented because it didn't receive the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, many his backers attacked and damaged government buildings in the federal district, Brasília.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been encouraged by him whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, his attorneys called the over 27-year sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was intended to stop him participating in the 2026 national vote.
