The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a military coup in September and handed more than a 27-year term in prison, but he remained under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after fresh information emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his tracking device and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the custody, Justice Moraes said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the protest called by his offspring.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a senator, called for a assembly of his supporters near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday night.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your settee? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of Justice Moraes's decision was the possibility of Bolsonaro's "relocation to embassies near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the United States embassy in the capital, Brazil's capital, is located around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
The former president's legal troubles have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative United States President Donald Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
He is being kept in a national police facility in the capital and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on last Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Top Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required ongoing care for lung conditions and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
The former president was determined responsible of orchestrating a plot aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he knew of a plan which included plans to assassinate the current president and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on the first day of 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his followers stormed and vandalised government buildings in the national capital, the capital city.
The law enforcement stepped in and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, bring back stability and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from running for public office until 2060 - eight years later after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a targeted investigation" and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 presidential election.
