Hours before the former president

Donald

Trump was expected to turn himself in to Fulton County Jail on charges for trying to stay in power after his 2020 election loss. Dozens of his supporters had already gathered outside the prison on Thursday morning.

And the crowd grew steadily as the day progressed.

It will be the fourth time this year that Trump, the early front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential election, has faced criminal charges. But unlike his previous arrests, which took place in courthouses just before he first appeared in court, this time he will turn himself in to a notorious prison.

Also different from his previous reports, authorities are expected to take a booking photo of the former president.

Trump and 18 others were indicted last week, charged by Fulton County Dist. atty Fani Willis of participating in an elaborate plan to undermine the will of Georgian voters, who had narrowly rejected the incumbent Republican party in favor of Democrat Joe Biden. Many of the others charged turned themselves in to jail earlier this week, including

Trump attorneys Rudolph W. Rudy

Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis on Wednesday and John Eastman on Tuesday.

Trump expected to surrender to law enforcement in 2020 Fulton County election case

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has said that Trump, and the others in this case, will be treated like anyone else and specifically said at a news conference earlier this month: Unless someone tells me otherwise, we are following our normal practices, and so make it doesn’t matter. your status, have a mugshot ready for you.

But the scene outside the prison on Thursday was anything but normal.

Among them were supporters of the former president, such as Cliff MacMorris, 66, of Naples, Florida, who held a flag that read: Trump Won Save America.

He and his wife, Georgine, spent the night in Atlanta.

You have no right to unjustly persecute anyone, said Cliff MacMorris.

His wife said the charges against the former president were politically motivated because of the four years of prosperity, security and freedom Trump achieved in the White House.

They must be worried about him for some reason, she said.

Trump attorney John Eastman turns himself in for arrest in Georgia

Sharon Anderson, 67, of East Tennessee, was out of jail for the second day in a row. She had spent the night in a car with the air conditioning on.

I’m here to support Donald J. Trump. I want him to see some of the millions before him at the polls.”

She said the charges against Trump had only strengthened her support for him. The former president questioned the election results, which is not a crime, she said.

Fulton County’s main jail, also known as the Rice Street Jail, is located in a traditionally industrial part of northwestern Atlanta, where warehouses are currently being redeveloped for retail and residential use. It is set back from the street down a long, tree-lined driveway that leads to a car park in front of the prison’s imposing facade.

On most days, the public and news media are free to drive up to the front of the prison, and news cameras have captured the arrival and departure of many high-profile people who have been taken to prison. But with a former president’s booking looming, the main street driveway in front of the prison has been closed for days, with no reporters or cameras allowed within viewing distance of the building.

Fulton County grand jury indicts Trump, Giuliani and other associates in 2020 election inquiry

Security was tightened hours before Trump’s expected arrival. While cars had been allowed on the Rice Street side of the jail a day earlier, sheriff’s deputies closed the street to vehicular traffic Thursday. They also set up barricades to keep protesters and the media out. Some officers wore vests and covered their faces with black masks. They lined up along the street.

By mid-morning, dozens of supporters of the former president had already gathered, some waving flags bearing Trump’s name. Members of a group called Blacks for Trump hurled racial slurs at black sheriff’s deputies. But the demonstration was otherwise peaceful early on.

While others who are booked

in prison is allowed in there

spending months or even years in the facility awaiting charges or trial is not expected of Trump

stay in prison for a long time

once booked. The prison is plagued by crumbling infrastructure and overcrowding. As of Thursday morning, the jail housed 2,618 people, more than its capacity of 2,254, according to data from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.

The U.S. Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation last month

jail

conditions

in the Fulton County Jail

citing violence, squalid conditions and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects.