If former President Donald Trump were facing the booking process that newly charged criminal defendants in Fulton County typically experience, he might find himself lingering for hours at the Rice Street jail waiting for his fingerprints and mug shot to be taken.
Even by the standards of local jails, the Fulton County jail on Rice Street has a reputation for especially deplorable conditions for inmates. Last month, the US Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation into living conditions, access to health care, violence against detainees and possible discrimination against those with psychiatric disabilities.
But the treatment that defendants receive when being booked and processed on criminal charges in Fulton County varies drastically, case by case. The system gives discretion to prosecutors, the magistrate judges who often preside over the first court appearances and the superior court judges who have been assigned the underlying case.
While officials have vowed to treat Trump and his associates as they would any defendant, that is likely impossible due the security precautions required for a former president and the high-profile nature of some of his co-defendants.
“We’re in uncharted waters at this point,” Chris Timmons, a former prosecutor and now a law partner at Knowles Gallant Timmons in Atlanta, told CNN. “We haven’t had a former United States president or anyone with Secret Service protection booked into the Fulton County jail.”
Trump’s team has already been in contact with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office and conversations are expected to continue early next week about the conditions of his appearance and the logistics of his surrender. Other defendants have also engaged with the district attorney, sources told CNN.
Willis gave Trump and…
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