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Here's how going to jail - and getting back out - will work for Trump, Georgia election RICO defendants

Trump's surrender will have the world's attention on Atlanta on Thursday.

ATLANTA — On Tuesday, the first of the defendants in the Georgia 2020 election RICO case involving former President Donald Trump and 18 others began to surrender at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.

The former president himself said on social media that he would be turning himself in on Thursday. 

RELATED: Trump says he will surrender Thursday on Georgia charges

Trump's surrender will have the world's attention on Atlanta's Rice Street, where the jail is located. How the former president is booked into jail and how his arrest is processed will be of great curiosity to a worldwide audience.

Here is a rough outline of how exactly that will go:

What will happen when Trump gets booked at Fulton County Jail | Fingerprints, mugshot, and processing

We're going to be extremely step-by-step here.

  • Drive to the jail, enter through the parking lot: Obviously, there will be a lot of as-yet-unknown logistics in how exactly Trump flies into Atlanta and then how his motorcade drives to the jail. But we know where the journey has to end: One of two entrances to the jail. One is a secure entrance on Jefferson Street and the other is the general entrance open to the public on Rice Street.
  • Go in: Simple enough. There are security protocols at the main entrance, like a metal detector, but whether Trump, whose team will have given advance notice that he's on his way, would actually have to go through them - or even use the main entrance - is unknown. No cell phones or smart watches are allowed in the jail for members of the public.
  • Pay the amount required to satisfy bond: In Trump's case, he will likely present his payment - cash, cashier's checks and postal money orders are the only accepted payment methods according to the Sheriff's Office's app - to satisfy the $200,000 consent bond he's agreed to.
  • More on bond: Multiple legal sources, including criminal defense attorney Lawrence J. Zimmerman told 11Alive's Zach Merchant how this works: If a defendant opts to use a cash bond instead of a bail bondsman, the defendant has to put up the full amount of their bond in cash in order to be released. For example, if a defendant has a $100,000 bond and posts a cash bond, he’s got to hand over $100,000. If a defendant uses a bail bondsman, the defendant typically has to put up 10%-15% of the total bond amount in cash themselves. According to the Sheriff's Office, a defendant may also post a property bond -- "residential property offered as a guarantee for the principal to appear in court" -- but only if the property is located in Fulton County.
  • Begin booking/Fingerprints/Mugshot: Zimmerman told 11Alive what the typical procedure looks like: "They'll come get your client, bring him back to a little area where they'll fingerprint him, take the picture." Attorney Joshua Schiffer told 11Alive's Rebecca Lindstrom there are also forms, such as a medial questionnaire, you have to fill out.
  • But!: Schiffer noted different arrangements can be made. “It’s the discretion of the prosecution what kind of deals you can make,” he said. How that might look for Trump, what kind of deals could be cut, is obviously unknown. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said his department plans on following “normal practices."
  • And!: This is a former president, with a Secret Service detail, and security will be a factor. Former Gwinnett DA Danny Porter said the security concerns could likely alter the usual process. "I suspect there's going to be things like clearing out the intake room or the book-in room, Secret Service will have to be there," Poter said.
  • Then you leave: You're free to go home and go about your business now, so long as you comply with your bond conditions. For Trump, those conditions include making no "direct or indirect threat of any nature" toward any co-defendant or witness or the community - including through social media posts.

When the former president has to come back to Atlanta regarding the case would be determined by the court calendar.

   

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