Brazilian democracy has spent the past three years in a near-permanent state of tension – a full-body clench against an ex-president who refused to accept defeat. On Saturday morning, those muscles tightened again.

Brazil's federal police on Saturday took former President Jair Bolsonaro into custody due to flight risk after he took a soldering iron to his ankle monitor, ending months of house arrest as he appeals his conviction for plotting a coup.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was detained in Brasilia because of a possible "attempted escape" to an embassy before he was to begin his prison sentence.

Bolsonaro is the “first former president to be found guilty of attempting to subvert Latin America ’s largest democracy,” The Washington Post said. His imprisonment was still a “surprise” to “many in the South American nation who doubted he would ever end up behind bars,

Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, is ordered to begin his 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after the last election. Show more The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been ordered to begin his 27 year prison sentence for ...