Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a serious risk of fleeing while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in September and sentenced more than a 27-year term in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
High Court Judge Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed seeking to disable his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the custody, the magistrate said information from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the chaos caused by the demonstration called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on social media on the previous day: Will you battle for your nation, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the return of democracy in our country."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a background of planning to ask for protection through a embassy office", a announcement said.
The judicial paperwork underscores that the United States embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is positioned around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative American leader President Trump, leading him to implement a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
He is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a detention review on the next day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on the previous day that the his legal team asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that he be authorized to exit his dwelling for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for pulmonary infections and other ailments.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, President Lula.
High Court judges said that he was aware of a plot which included plans to murder his opponent and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the armed forces officials. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, thousands of his followers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around 1,500 people were taken into custody.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose scheme, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, bring back stability and return him to office.
At the time, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The one-time head of state called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 presidential election.
