Trump is being held in the Fulton County Jail and exits jail after 20 minutes

Donald Trump’s mugshot was released to the public Thursday night after he was being held in an Atlanta, Georgia jail on more than a dozen felonies. The prison he was held in, Fulton County Jail, has a long record of drug smuggling, ongoing violence, and notorious killers and serial killers over the decades.

ABC 7 reports that Trump’s mugshot was a historic first: the first former US president to have his mugshot taken. (Nixon came close, but was fully and unconditionally pardoned by Gerald Ford on September 8, 1974.)

It is the culmination of a wide-ranging criminal case surrounding the former US President’s alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election, particularly in Georgia, which has been crucial to winning the votes needed.

Trump — also known as inmate #P01135809, according to Fulton County Jail records — was photographed looking stern, and the photo immediately went viral. Eighteen other defendants face charges for their alleged role in overthrowing the 2020 election. Trump has been indicted four times this year, but this is the first time he has faced RICO indictment and the first time his mug shot has been taken.

District Attorney Fani Willis oversaw the investigation and racketeering charges against Trump and 18 co-defendants. Others include Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Thursday also marked Trump’s less-than-triumphant return to X, formerly known as Twitter, where he posted his own mugshot along with the message in all caps: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE. NEVER GIVE UP!”

However, Trump only spent about 20 minutes in the Fulton County Jail before returning to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to fly back to Bedminster, New Jersey.

For most of the other inmates in prison, many of whom are charged with drug-related offences, the reality is much harsher and they struggle. RICO or racketeering allegations are among the most serious. In the cannabis world, RICO charges have been leveled for and against numerous cannabis companies. Lawsuits against federally legal cannabis activities are based on allegations that such activities violate the federal Controlled Substances Act and have thereby satisfied the ratings law requirement under RICO, the Duane Morris firm said.

The Fulton County Jail and Its Drug History

Some people speculate about how easy it is to get drugs in prison. The “never-ending drug trade behind bars” never stops at America’s prisons, wrote Olivia Fields of the Marshall Project. This is one of the main reasons why the war on drugs failed.

Insider drug dealing is also rampant in the Fulton County Jail. Other Fulton County inmates appeared to have had access to weed, cigarettes and drugs smuggled in by at least one prison contractor.

Fox 5 reported on June 22, 2022 that TreQuera Lashell Ford was a contracted medical assistant at the Fulton County Jail and was arrested for smuggling marijuana into the jail. Officials said Ford was pulled over on May 14, 2022 for smelling weed and admitted to smoking in her car before she got to work.

Police routinely began searching her bag. She panicked, grabbed her keys and ran, ran across the parking lot, jumped in her car and left. Officers reportedly found 6.8 ounces of cannabis, 20 grams of crack cocaine, 200 cigarettes and loose tobacco.

“Let me be clear, if you try to smuggle anything into the Fulton County Jail, you will be caught and arrested,” Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said. “Our deputies and investigators have worked tirelessly to bring this fugitive to justice.”

But the police didn’t stop there: they eavesdropped on her phone and recorded conversations that proved she was smuggling drugs into the prison. Ford only served a few months in prison before she was arrested.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said a thorough search that spanned multiple jurisdictions finally found her and arrested her in Grenada, Mississippi.

Jail and Violence in Fulton County

USA Today reports that the jail was built a total of four times, the first opening in 1904 and being remodeled in 1927 as the Atlanta City Jail on Peachtree Street. In 1961 a third facility was built on Jefferson Street.

Ten years later, Jefferson Street Jail was the scene of the 1971 riots. In 1971, inmates at the jail protested poor living conditions and overcrowding and rioted, resulting in extensive property damage and injuries. (That same year, the larger riot at Attica prison in New York proved worse.)

In 1984, voters approved $44.3 million in bail for a new county jail, with a budget of over $50 million, and that’s the modern facility Trump was committed to.

Producer-turned-killer Phil Spector and serial killer Wayne Williams also spent time in Fulton County. However, Trump is probably the most prominent figure to be booked in Fulton County.