Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of orchestrating a government overthrow in last fall and given more than over two decades in jail, but he continued under home detention pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" came to light.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Flight Fears
In a document approving the detention, the judge said intelligence from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, his son Flávio, who holds office as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his backers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your phone there on your settee? I call on you to battle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's decision was the chance of his "relocation to embassies near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The court filing underscores that the US embassy in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
Global Responses
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative American leader Trump, prompting him to enact a 50% tariff on Brazilian product imports.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he needed regular treatment for pulmonary infections and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the presidential race to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a plot which included plans to murder the current president and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The scheme was prevented because it failed to get the support of the military leaders. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on January 8th, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalised government buildings in the capital, the capital city.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were arrested.
The justices found that the rioters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the time, the legal team called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
