Former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants as part of the criminal indictment for efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election are expected to be booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, the sheriff's office said this week.
"Based on guidance received from the district attorney's office and the presiding judge, the 19 individuals named in the indictment are expected to be booked into the Rice Street jail," the office said in a statement.
Trump and his top allies, including his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, face 41 criminal charges in connection with their alleged election interference.
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The broad indictment also names attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Ray Smith. All were charged under Georgia's RICO anti-mafia law.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Monday that arrest warrants have been issued for all defendants and that each has until Aug. 25 to surrender voluntarily. He also stated that he intends to try the 19 defendants together and that he seeks to go to trial in March 2024.
The Fulton County Jail, July 10, 2020.Paras Griffin/Getty Images ifle
Trump is expected to show up for the data search and possibly a record photo at the Fulton County Jail before attending the arraignment and, most likely, being released on parole pending trial.
The Infamous Fulton County Jail
Built in 1985 to house about 1,300 inmates, the Fulton County Jail has housed more than 3,000 people in recent years.
According to a report by the Southern Center for Human Rights, the prison is characterized by "unhygienic living conditions" that have led to outbreaks of COVID-19, lice and scabies. The report states that inmates are "significantly malnourished" and suffer from a condition called cachexia, also known as wasting syndrome.
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Waiting in such substandard conditions has proved deadly for some. According to the BBC, last week a 34-year-old man was found unconscious in a cell in the prison's medical unit, where he had been held since 2019. He was revived but later died in the hospital, according to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.
He was the sixth person this year to die in the county correctional system in 2023.
To county residents, the jail is known simply as "Rice Street."
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That correctional facility is not a place for the faint of heart, said Robert G. Rubin, a veteran defense attorney interviewed by The New York Times. Last year, a detainee was found dead in his cell, his body covered in bed bug bites and other insects, according to his lawyer.
At least two Spotify songs are titled 901 Rice Street, which is the jail address. Popular rapper Latto has a song whose title references Rice Street with an expletive. And a verse from a Killer Mike rap reads, "Locked up like on Rice Street without bail."
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Normally, as soon as a defendant turns himself in to police, he or she goes to a holding area with other detainees, Rubin said. "It's miserable. Cold. Stink. It's disgusting overall," he said based on previous descriptions of his clients. In addition, there is a high degree of anxiety for any defendant who finds themselves in that situation."
Then comes the check-in process, which includes checking if the detainee has outstanding arrest warrants. Rubin says the computer systems used for those checks sometimes fail, leading to delays.
Gerald A. Griggs, another Atlanta-area trial attorney consulted by the Times, says the signing process can take "four hours or four days," though defendants in Trump's case will most likely have to wait only a few hours on Rice Street. That's because your attorneys will likely have negotiated your bond with prosecutors before you turn yourself in, circumventing the need to have a bond hearing before a judge.
There are 41 charges and 19 defendants in an unprecedented criminal case against a former U.S. president.
Aug. 15, 202301:01
The sheriff's office said Tuesday: "Please note that defendants may turn themselves in at any time. The jail is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, due to the unprecedented nature of this case, some circumstances may change with little or no notice."
It is the fourth time Trump, the frontrunner in polls for the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination, has been indicted on criminal charges since March, following Willis' extensive two-year investigation into whether he and his allies "coordinated attempts to illegally alter the outcome of the 2020 election."
Trump has accused Willis of "election interference" for proceeding with the investigation at a time when he is campaigning for the presidential election.
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With information from NBC News, BBC and The New York Times