The former Brazilian leader has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under home detention pending appeals.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This included seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a call for a public vigil that could facilitate a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Concerns
In a document approving the detention, the magistrate said data from the facility tracking Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the surveillance device to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his child.
His child, his son Flávio, who serves as a legislator, called for a meeting of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on online platforms on Friday: Will you battle for your nation, or observe everything from your phone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so followers could seek divine intervention for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the US embassy in the federal district, Brazil's capital, is situated around approximately 13 kilometers from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have generated frustration from fellow populist conservative US President Trump, causing him to implement a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also asked that the former president be allowed to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of heading a plot aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his ideological adversary, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a scheme which involved plans to kill Lula and his VP candidate, Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial.
The conspiracy was prevented because it couldn't obtain the support of the military leaders. His successor was inaugurated without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, many Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, the capital city.
The police intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to step in, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the time, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The one-time head of state called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him participating in the 2026 national vote.
