Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in September and given more than over two decades in incarceration, but he was staying under confinement pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the septuagenarian politician was a preventative measure after fresh information came to light.
This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a invitation to a demonstration that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, Justice Moraes said intelligence from the unit overseeing Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the protest called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a meeting of his followers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
His son wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to battle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of the former president's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader Donald Trump, leading him to implement a 50% tariff on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will undergo a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to permit him to fulfill his full incarceration period under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Background on Conviction
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the national vote to his left-wing rival, 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 running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been managing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The police took action and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been incited by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the national armed forces to intervene, restore order and return him to office.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
