Bolsonaro has been detained after authorities found he posed a definite escape threat while under domestic detention.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in the ninth month and handed more than a 27-year term in incarceration, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Justice Moraes said the action to imprison the elderly politician was a preventative measure after recent developments came to light.
This involved attempting to break his tracking device and a invitation to a public vigil that could "allow for a possible escape.
Court Filing Details Flight Fears
In a paperwork permitting the arrest, the judge said information from the centre monitoring his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the protest called by his child.
His son, his son Flávio, who serves as a congressional representative, called for a gathering of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
The senator wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the vigil would be so followers could "pray for his physical condition and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our country."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of the judge's determination was the chance of his "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a embassy office", a declaration said.
The legal document highlights that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
Bolsonaro's legal woes have drawn the ire of fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on imports of Brazilian goods.
The former president is being kept in a Federal Police station in Brazil's capital city and will have a imprisonment assessment on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the Top Court to authorize him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also petitioned that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he demanded regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
Context of Sentencing
He was convicted of heading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was stopped because it didn't receive the endorsement of the military leaders. His successor was sworn in without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on 8 January, numerous his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the national capital, Brasília.
The law enforcement took action and around fifteen hundred individuals were detained.
The judges found that the protesters had been provoked by him whose plan, they said, was for the national armed forces to take action, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the moment, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also barred from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the trial a "witch hunt and said it was aimed at blocking him competing in the next presidential race.
