Trump to be booked in overcrowded, violent and insect-ridden Georgia jail: ‘It’s disgusting. It’s dirty. It’s dangerous’
Donald Trump will step off his lavish gold-plated Boeing 757 and into one of the most notorious correctional complexes in the Peach State Thursday night.
Trump and most of his 18 co-defendants accused of unlawfully trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results have been ordered booked at the Fulton County Jail, which is facing a Justice Department civil rights probe and has allegedly been mired by overcrowding, insect infestations, and violence.
“It’s disgusting. It’s dirty. It’s dangerous. There were several instances that have happened in the past, one of the most famous is when there was a former sheriff in charge, they filmed a rat video,” former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons told ABC News Thursday.
During his venture into the jail, Trump, a notorious germaphobe, is expected to be kept clear of the more grimy parts of the facility.
Instead, he will be relegated to administrative areas, where he is expected to get his mugshot and fingerprints taken.
But if Trump is convicted of any of the 13 counts against him, he could see the inside of those purportedly foul quarters.
The jail on Rice Street, near the Georgia Tech campus northwest of downtown Atlanta, was constructed in 1985 and houses approximately 3,000 inmates.
Earlier this year, authorities reached a $4 million settlement with the family of LaShawn Thompson, 35, who died in the prison last year after being “eaten alive by bed bugs,” according to his lawyers.
Thompson’s body was recovered on Sept. 13, 2022, covered with insects in a run-down and unsanitary cell.
Outrage over conditions at the jail helped trigger the DOJ probe into living conditions, violence on the premises, potential discrimination against individuals with disabilities, healthcare access, and more.
“I wouldn’t wish the conditions in the Fulton County jail on my worst enemy,” Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, wrote Aug. 12 on X, formerly Twitter.
“If you think that making jokes about jail in Atlanta is all well and good because Donald Trump is the butt of them, you may wish to stop and inform yourself of the inhumane ways people have died there,” he added.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who announced the 41-count indictment on Aug. 14, gave defendants until noon Friday to voluntarily surrender.
Eleven of those indicted had turned themselves in as of Thursday evening, with 10 released on bond.
Trump is expected to post a $200,000 bond when he is arrested at 7:30 p.m.
After his last arraignment, in Washington, DC, Trump decried what he called the “filth and decay” in the nation’s capital.
Ahead of Thursday’s booking, he had a similar hot take on Atlanta.
“Why is there so much MURDER in Atlanta? Why is there so much Violent Crime? People are afraid to go outside to buy a loaf of bread!” Trump bemoaned on Truth Social.
“One big reason is that failed District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is campaigning and fundraising off ‘get Trump’ (much like the others!), doesn’t have the Time, Money, or Interest to go after the real criminals, even the REALLY Violent ones, that are destroying Atlanta, and its once beautiful culture and way of life. This is yet another SAD DAY IN AMERICA!”
Trump faces four indictments and a total of 91 criminal counts.
The 77-year-old has denied wrongdoing across the board and remains the Republican presidential frontrunner.
