Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities determined he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The one-time leader was sentenced of planning a government overthrow in the ninth month and given more than 27 years in incarceration, but he continued under confinement pending legal challenges.
High Court Judge the presiding justice said the action to imprison the septuagenarian politician was a precautionary step after recent developments were revealed.
This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a demonstration that could enable a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a paperwork permitting the detention, the magistrate said data from the unit overseeing his home detention suggested the one-time head of state's plan to remove the electronic ankle bracelet to secure accomplishment in his getaway".
This, it said, would be "facilitated by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who holds office as a legislator, called for a assembly of his supporters near his father's house to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the gathering would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the restoration of democratic rule in our land."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of Justice Moraes's determination was the potential of the former president's "relocation to embassies near the dwelling, considering that the investigations revealed a history of organizing to ask for protection through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document underscores that the United States embassy in the national capital, Brazil's capital, is situated around 8 miles from Bolsonaro's home.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have provoked anger from fellow populist conservative United States President Trump, causing him to enact a half-rate duty on goods coming from Brazil.
He is being detained in a national police facility in Brazil's capital city and will undergo a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Legal Requests
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under domestic detention, with electronic monitoring.
They also asked that Bolsonaro be permitted to depart his residence for healthcare, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Context of Sentencing
He was convicted of leading a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he failed to win the 2022 election to his ideological adversary, Lula.
High Court judges said that he knew of a plan which included plans to kill Lula and his running partner, his vice-presidential candidate, and to detain and kill Alexandre de Moraes - the High Court judge who has been managing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it failed to get the support of the armed forces officials. Lula was sworn in without issue on the first day of 2023.
But a following week, on 8 January, many his backers stormed and vandalised official structures in the capital, Brazil's capital.
The law enforcement took action and around 1,500 people were arrested.
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, bring back stability and reinstate his authority.
At the period, the legal team called the decades-long sentence "absurdly excessive.
He was also prohibited from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the trial a political persecution and said it was aimed at blocking him participating in the 2026 presidential election.
