Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The ex-president was found guilty of orchestrating a military coup in September and handed more than a 27-year term in jail, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
Top Judicial Official Justice Moraes said the decision to arrest the elderly politician was a precautionary step after fresh information came to light.
This encompassed seeking to disable his ankle monitor and a summons to a public vigil that could "allow for a potential flight.
Court Filing Details Escape Risks
In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring the former president's confinement suggested the one-time head of state's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his flight.
This, it said, would be made easier by the chaos caused by the gathering called by his child.
His offspring, Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his followers near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
His son wrote on digital networks on Friday: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our land."
Embassy Asylum Concerns
Part of Justice Moraes's ruling was the possibility of the former president's "relocation to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of organizing to seek refuge through a consular facility", a statement said.
The judicial paperwork emphasizes that the US embassy in the capital, the capital city, is located around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being kept in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will have a custody hearing on the next day.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on last Friday that the ex-leader's attorneys asked the High Court to permit him to serve his whole jail sentence under house arrest, with tracking devices.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for medical care, saying he demanded frequent medical attention for lung conditions and other illnesses.
Details of Guilty Verdict
Bolsonaro was determined responsible of leading a scheme aimed at keeping him in power after he failed to win the presidential race to his ideological adversary, President Lula.
Supreme Court justices said that he had knowledge of a plan which encompassed plans to murder Lula and his VP candidate, his vice-presidential candidate, and to imprison and murder Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been overseeing his judicial proceedings.
The conspiracy was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the backing of the armed forces officials. His successor was took office without issue on 1 January 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, many Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed government buildings in the national capital, Brasília.
The security forces took action and around 1,500 people were detained.
The justices found that the demonstrators had been provoked by the former president whose plan, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and reinstate his authority.
At the period, Bolsonaro's lawyers called the 27 years and three months sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also barred from seeking elected position until twenty-sixty - eight years after the completion of his term.
The one-time head of state called the court case a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the next presidential race.
