Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under home confinement.
The former head of state was convicted of orchestrating a military coup in September and given more than 27 years in prison, but he was staying under house arrest pending court reviews.
Top Judicial Official Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a safety action after "new facts" emerged.
This involved trying to remove his electronic bracelet and a call for a supporters' gathering that could facilitate a possible escape.
Judicial Records Show Escape Risks
In a document approving the custody, the judge said intelligence from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's "intention to break the tracking monitor to ensure success in his getaway".
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the gathering called by his offspring.
His child, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a legislator, called for a gathering of his backers near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
The senator wrote on social media on the previous day: "Are you going to fight for your country, or see it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I urge you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so supporters could offer prayers for his health and for the reestablishment of democratic governance in our nation."
Foreign Shelter Risks
Part of the magistrate's ruling was the possibility of his move to foreign missions near the dwelling, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to ask for protection through a embassy office", a statement said.
The legal document highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the capital, the capital city, is located around 8 miles from his dwelling.
International Reactions
His judicial problems have drawn the ire of fellow populist conservative US President Trump, causing him to impose a half-rate duty on Brazilian product imports.
The former president is being held in a Federal Police station in Brasilia and will have a custody hearing on Sunday.
Recent Judicial Appeals
It was only on Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to authorize him to complete his entire prison term under home confinement, with electronic monitoring.
They also requested that Bolsonaro be authorized to leave his home for medical treatment, saying he needed ongoing care for respiratory ailments and other ailments.
Context of Sentencing
Bolsonaro was convicted of orchestrating a conspiracy aimed at retaining his authority after he was defeated in the 2022 election to his political opponent, Lula.
Top judicial officials said that he was aware of a plot which encompassed plans to kill Lula and his running partner, Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Alexandre de Moraes - the top judicial official who has been presiding over the former president's case.
The scheme was thwarted because it couldn't obtain the support of the army and air force commanders. Lula was inaugurated without incident on 1 January 2023.
But a following week, on the eighth of January, numerous his backers invaded and destroyed public facilities in the national capital, Brasília.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The magistrates found that the demonstrators had been encouraged by the former president whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to take action, reestablish control and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the legal proceedings a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
