Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under home confinement.
The ex-president was convicted of planning a military coup in last fall and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he was staying under confinement pending court reviews.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This included trying to remove his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said data from the facility tracking the former president's confinement suggested the former leader's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who works as a senator, called for a meeting of his backers near the former president's residence to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on online platforms on last Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could seek divine intervention for his well-being and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the potential of Bolsonaro's "relocation to foreign missions near the residence, considering that the inquiries revealed a record of arranging to request asylum through a consular facility", a statement said.
The legal document emphasizes that the American diplomatic mission in the national capital, the capital city, is positioned around 13km from the former president's residence.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Donald Trump, leading him to enact a fifty percent tax on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being detained in a national police facility in the capital and will have a imprisonment assessment on the following day.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he needed frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
He was convicted of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he was defeated in the presidential race to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a scheme which encompassed plans to kill the current president and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the Supreme Court justice who has been presiding over Bolsonaro's trial.
The plot was prevented because it failed to get the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was took office without problem on 1 January 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, thousands of his followers stormed and vandalised public facilities in the federal district, Brazil's capital.
The security forces took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were taken into custody.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from campaigning for office until the year 2060 - eight years after the conclusion of his imprisonment.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was designed to prevent him competing in the 2026 national vote.
