Trump will be booked at Fulton County Jail and can 'expect a humiliating experience' if he's treated like everyone else, lawyer says

• Trump is in for a "humiliating" time when he's booked at a Georgia jail, a local lawyer said.
• Detainees at the Fulton County Jail are typically processed in front of others, the attorney said.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to surrender on charges connected to 2020 election interference at a notorious Georgia jail on Thursday — and a local sheriff has promised that the ex-commander-in-chief will be treated just like everyone else accused of a crime in the state.

If Trump really is treated like others charged with crimes in Georgia, he's in for a "humiliating experience" when he's booked at the infamous Fulton County Jail, a lawyer who has sued the facility three times on behalf of families of men who died while in custody there told Insider.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on whether special accommodations will be made for Trump when he turns himself in.

Atlanta-based attorney Michael Harper told Insider that the intake area of the Fulton County Jail is massive, and detainees are typically processed in front of others who are also being processed.

"He can expect a humiliating experience," Harper told Insider of Trump on Tuesday. "Just being searched, photographed, and fingerprinted amongst other people."

If it is, in fact, business as usual at the jail, Trump will be "surrounded by people charged with everyday crimes," like murder and rape, Harper said, adding, "This is not a federal prison of white-collar criminals here."

Officials are "constantly" booking people charged with crimes into the Fulton County Jail around the clock, and it could take hours to be processed, according to Harper.

"If he's treated like every other inmate when he goes in, he'll be there with other inmates who are processing at the same time he is," Harper said of Trump. "It's a huge open area. There's nothing private."

During the typical booking process at the jail, detainees move from station to station, where they would get physically searched, put through a body scanner, undergo a medical intake screening, have their mugshot taken, and get fingerprinted, according to Harper.

"It's certainly not a place that he will want to be — of course, no one wants to be there — but certainly not the accommodations Donald Trump will be used to," Harper said.

Harper has sued the Fulton County Jail three times since 2018, including on behalf of the family of Lashawn Thompson, a 35-year-old man who died last year inside a filthy cell at the jail. Thompson's family says he was "eaten alive" by bed bugs.

The case helped spark a Department of Justice civil investigation into conditions at the jail.

"It's the worst county jail in Georgia," Harper said.

A Georgia grand jury last week indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants, including ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, over their efforts to overturn Trump's Georgia loss during the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has announced that he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday.

He was granted a $200,000 bond ahead of his arraignment in the state.

Before Trump was indicted for a fourth time, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said the former president would be treated like anyone else accused of a crime in Georgia and get his mugshot taken.

"Unless someone tells me differently, we are following our normal practices," Labat told reporters earlier this month. "It doesn't matter your status — we have mugshots ready for you."