Could Donald Trump Go to Prison? Former Secret Service Agent Says Possibility Is a Security Nightmare

As Donald Trump faces his fourth indictment, some are wondering what would a prison sentence would look like for a former president, should he be found guilty and sentenced to time behind bars. 

A prison sentence for Trump would present the Secret Service with a security nightmare, former Secret Service agent Jim Rathmann tells Inside Edition.

“This has never been encountered before. This isn’t something that, you know, the Secret Service has prepared for previously. It’s never just even been a thought,” Rathmann say.  

All former presidents are entitled by law to Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. In a statement, the Secret Service admits that “no policy or Procedure currently exists” to cover a former president going to prison.

“I don’t think someone’s gonna be sitting there with him in his jail cell by any means but maybe when he gets out to get his hours of exercise or things such as that, I’m sure he’d have some sort of protection,” Rathmann says.

Georgia’s state prisons are among the toughest in the nation.

“The Secret Service most certainly is not going to let him be there with violent offenders,” Rathmann says.

There are seven minimum security federal prison camps, including one at a military base in Alabama where Trump might be sent if he gets convicted.

The Secret Service could insist on home confinement if Trump were to get convicted, according to The Washington Post. “Could Trump face prison? Theoretically, yes and practically, no,” a former federal prosecutor said, according to the outlet.

Related Stories