Getting near the Fulton County Jail is no easy task on the same day former President Donald Trump is expected to be booked on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election.
Security measures were added Thursday as demonstrators and media flocked to the northwest Atlanta facility on Rice Street. Several streets are blocked off and access points are bristling with extra surveillance.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
The jail is located in the Knight Park/Howell Station neighborhood in a sprawling county government complex that includes office space and a maintenance facility. There are two entrances. The first is on Rice Street, a narrow neighborhood street off the much larger, busier Marietta Boulevard.
The second entrance, which Trump is expected to use, is on the wide, industrial Jefferson Street which runs along the southern edge of the jail complex.
Rice Street, where demonstrators gathered Thursday, has been completely shut down to all traffic. Crowds began to grow around 10 a.m. but have remained fairly quiet.
Access to Jefferson Street is restricted by deputies who are turning away cars and foot traffic. Drones are buzzing through the sky, including tethered surveillance drones that remain connected to a power source on the ground and can provide continuous aerial video coverage.
Deputies in the area are wearing ballistic vests over their uniforms, and anyone who strays to the jail side of the street is promptly reprimanded by an officer on a bullhorn.
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