Donald Trump is set to surrender on Thursday facing election interference charges, likely being sent to an infamous Atlanta jail. The facility is under Justice Department investigation for dire conditions, including unsanitary living spaces, rampant violence, and alleged officer misconduct.

When Donald Trump surrenders on Thursday to face charges he tried to overturn the 2020 election he is expected to do so at an Atlanta jail where conditions are so notorious they are under investigation by the Justice Department.

The 77-year-old former president and the 18 co-defendants in the election racketeering case are to be booked at the Fulton County Jail, also known as the Rice Street Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

Standard booking procedure is for a defendant to be fingerprinted and to have a mugshot taken before they are released on bond, which has already been set at $200,000 in Trump’s case.

Trump did not have to undergo the indignity of having a mugshot taken during his three previous arrests this year, but Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat told reporters this month that when it comes to a booking at his jail, “it doesn’t matter your status.”

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the other co-defendants have until noon (1600 GMT) on Friday to surrender voluntarily to the charges they conspired to overturn the billionaire’s election loss to Biden in Georgia.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he would be going to Atlanta on Thursday to be arrested, but did not give a time.

‘Unsafe and unsanitary’

The Justice Department opened a probe in July into conditions at the Fulton County Jail, where a number of detainees have died in recent years.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said it was being launched “based on serious allegations of unsafe, unsanitary living conditions at the jail.”

Added US Attorney Ryan Buchanan: “Recent allegations of filthy housing teeming with insects, rampant violence resulting in death and injuries, and officers using excessive force are cause for grave concern and warrant a thorough investigation.”

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the jail currently houses more than 2,500 inmates, double the amount it was originally designed to hold in 1989.

Katrine Houmøller, with AFP

Subscribe to our newsletter

Newsletter signup

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!