Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities determined he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than over two decades in prison, but he was staying under confinement pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a precautionary step after "new facts" were revealed.
This involved seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the unit overseeing the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's aim to disable the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be assisted by the chaos caused by the protest called by his child.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on digital networks on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your nation, or see it all from your mobile device there on your settee? I invite you to battle with us."
He said the vigil would be so supporters could "pray for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our land."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's decision was the chance of his transfer to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the probes revealed a record of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing emphasizes that the United States embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is positioned around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow conservative nationalist American leader President Trump, causing him to impose a 50% tariff on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being kept in a federal law enforcement building in the capital and will undergo a detention review on the following day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on the previous day that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under domestic detention, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that he be permitted to depart his residence for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Details of Guilty Verdict
He was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at maintaining his control after he failed to win the national vote to his left-wing rival, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he had knowledge of a scheme which included plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The plot was stopped because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was inaugurated without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, numerous his followers attacked and damaged public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been incited by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to intervene, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the time, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from campaigning for office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The ex-leader called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the 2026 national vote.
