What would it be like in jail for Trump if he's convicted?
The Secret Service has begun grappling with how to protect a former president behind bars
It's a strange quirk of Donald Trump's time in the White House that, despite his aggressive "law and order" bluster, it was his administration that championed the First Step Act, the nation's first major criminal justice reform measure in nearly a decade. Now, six years after signing that bill into law, Trump is once again considering the implications of America's carceral system — this time as a defendant in a suite of criminal cases featuring the remote, but very real, possibility that he will serve time in prison.
Trump now unquestionably faces the most serious legal peril of his long time in the public eye. It remains decidedly less clear what might happen if the former president of the United States is actually sentenced to an indeterminate time behind bars. As unprecedented as Trump's various criminal charges over the past several years have been, the prospect of his future incarceration presents a host of unique challenges. For now, Trump's most acute risk of jail time is not that he will ultimately be found guilty in his ongoing "hush money" trial in Manhattan, but that he will be held in contempt of court for violating a gag order.
While the American prison system has held more than its share of high-profile occupants, keeping a former president in lock-up would put Trump and the nation in profoundly uncharted waters.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What did the commentators say?
The Secret Service has already "held meetings and started planning" how to monitor and protect Trump in the eventuality that he's sent to some form of "short-term confinement," ABC News said. However, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Secret Service, has yet to discuss "what to do if Trump is convicted and sentenced to prison" for a longer term. There has been at least one "impromptu meeting" involving "officials with federal, state and city agencies" focused solely on "how to move and protect" Trump if he's remanded to a courthouse holding cell, The New York Times said. If he is eventually sent to prison or jail, it would likely involve "keeping him separate from other inmates, as well as screening his food and other personal items." While guns are "strictly prohibited in prisons," the agents assigned to protect him "would nonetheless be armed."
Ultimately, in deciding if and how to incarcerate Trump, the question is "how to reconcile equal treatment with ensuring a former president's security," USA Today said. To that end, a judge could "get creative" and order Trump to "stay in a hotel wing or at a military base, where he is isolated just like any other prisoner but still has Secret Service protection."
New York prosecutors have not specifically asked Judge Juan Merchan to actively place Trump in custody for violating his gag order, but asking the court to simply raise the possibility of jail time has been enough to leave the former president "rattled," Times reporter Kate Christobek told MSNBC.
What next?
Trump would likely much rather be fighting over what he's allowed to say, rather than the crimes he's been accused of committing, said, The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett. It would be surprising if "any judge in any jurisdiction really wants to 'put him in.'" But "once you start issuing threats and warnings, you either back that up, or you back off."
As part of its obligation to protect past presidents, Secret Service agents generally "study locations and develop comprehensive and layered protective models," federal officials told ABC News, declining to comment on any specific plans for protecting Trump in jail. These models "incorporate state of the art technology, protective intelligence and advanced security tactics to safeguard our protectees."
Those efforts may all be for naught, however. The House Homeland Security Committee's Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) has introduced the Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act. This would strip all Secret Service protections from anyone convicted of a state or federal felony.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 26, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - rising sea levels, a tightrope to peace, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 courtroom cartoons about the end of Trump's hush money trial
Cartoons Artists take on a drowsy defendant, Republican protests, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Crossword: May 26, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
'Customers can have any car they want as long as it's electric'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
How foreign policy could decide the election
The Explainer Labour more trusted on defence and could work better with Trump but voters are angry over both parties' stance on Israel
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Will the Biden-Trump debates matter?
Talking Points The campaigns agreed to Biden-Trump debates. The question is who, if anyone, they'll help.
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
'Maybe these students are mirrors of America'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
ICC warrant requests for Israeli and Hamas leaders: What happens now?
Today's Big Question How the International Criminal Court's push to arrest the men deemed responsible for the war in Gaza could play out
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'The U.S. has fallen into Iran's trap'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Why would Rishi Sunak call an election now?
Today's big question Prime minister expected to announce snap summer election
By Hollie Clemence, The Week UK Published