Donald Trump has until this Friday to turn himself in to an Atlanta prison described as “unsanitary” and “overcrowded,” where scabies outbreaks have occurred and several inmates have been found dead in their cells.
The former president and notorious germaphobe, along with his 18 co-defendants, were indicted Monday on charges of attempting to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election. They were told they had until noon on August 25 to surrender or arrest warrants would be issued.
They must surrender to the Fulton County Jail on Rice Street in Atlanta – a facility built in 1985, which many say should now be demolished.
Images from inside the prison show the appalling conditions of broken equipment, filthy hallways, cells with paint falling and other conditions that have prompted advocates to make improvements.
Pat Labat, the local sheriff, said officials will follow “normal practice” when dealing with Trump. That usually includes fingerprints, handcuffs and a booking photo.
Donald Trump, pictured Sunday, has until August 25 to turn himself in at Atlanta’s infamous derelict prison
The Fulton County Jail, on Rice Street, is so dilapidated that local sheriffs are demanding it be refurbished
It’s unclear if that will be normal procedures at the Fulton County Jail for Trump. The Georgia charge is his fourth indictment and so far no one has taken his mugshot, arguing that he is well known. Nor is he captivated.
That hasn’t stopped his campaign from raising money with photoshopped fake photos.
Trump is also unlikely to spend time in the prison itself, which is intended to house 1,300 inmates but has held more than 3,000 people in recent years.
“It’s basically overcrowded since it was built,” said Fallon McClure of Georgia’s ACLU.
“This has just been a perpetual cycle for years.”
The Southern Center for Human Rights said the location offers “unsanitary living conditions” that have led to outbreaks of COVID-19, lice and scabies.
It found that prisoners were “significantly malnourished,” the BBC reported, and were suffering from a condition called cachexia, also known as wasting syndrome.
Several inmates have died in recent months – among them, a 34-year-old man was found unconscious in a medical unit cell last week.
Last month, a 19-year-old woman, Noni Battiste-Kosoko, died in the Fulton County Jail even though she was being held elsewhere.
In September 2022, Lashawn Thompson died after being held in prison in conditions akin to a “torture chamber,” his lawyers said.
The 1,300-person facility has housed more than double that number, some sleeping on the floors
Noni Battiste-Kosoko, 19, died in July this year in the Fulton County Jail
Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September 2022 in the prison’s psychiatric ward
Thompson, 35, had been in the prison’s psychiatric ward for three months when he died.
The independent medical review listed “untreated decompensated schizophrenia” as a contributing cause of death, in addition to dehydration, malnutrition and serious insect infestations on the body, including lice and bed bugs.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office itself said the building is “decrepit and rapidly eroding” and is seeking to build a $1.7 billion new prison.
McClure, of the ACLU, said she had little confidence that the prison would be refurbished.
“There’s been a lot of talk about tidying up,” she said.
“We didn’t really see or hear anything out of the ordinary. It seems like a lot of posturing.’
All 19 of the co-defendants mentioned on Monday must surrender no later than August 25
The prison is known for overcrowding and unsanitary conditions
Trump and his co-defendants are not expected to spend time in the cells, where many languish for months
She said the loss of resources provided by the Trump case also contributed to the prison backlog.
In September 2022, an ACLU report found that 117 people had spent more than a year in jail for not being charged; 12 had been imprisoned for two years for the same reason.
“It is assumed that other cases are not charged because it takes so much time,” she said.
Trump on Tuesday demanded that the case be postponed until after the November 2024 election.
Fani Willis, the district attorney, said Monday that the timeline is up to the judge.
Her officer has charged Trump on state indictments, which means — unlike federal charges — he won’t be able to fire them even if he wins the election.
Trump has routinely maintained that the charges are politically motivated and called the charges a witch hunt.