Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was found guilty of plotting a armed takeover in the ninth month and given more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under home detention pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information were revealed.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a demonstration that could facilitate a potential flight.
Judicial Records Show Escape Concerns
In a document approving the custody, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a senator, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or observe everything from your smartphone there on your couch? I invite you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the chance of Bolsonaro's transfer to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The court filing highlights that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist American leader President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
Bolsonaro is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a scheme which involved plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. His successor was took office without issue on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on January 8th, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged government buildings in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The police intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the national armed forces to step in, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also barred from campaigning for office until 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the next presidential race.
