Inmates could try to kill Donald Trump “just to make a name for themselves” if the former president is jailed, according to an expert in the prison system.

The comment was made by Robert Rogers in an interview with Newsweek. He is an associate professor of criminal justice at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro and he used to work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Trump has been indicted in four separate criminal cases, two by federal authorities and two at the state level. The 2024 Republican frontrunner is accused of orchestrating the payment of hush money to a pornographic actress; mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021; and breaking the law while attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, both nationwide and in the state of Georgia specifically. Trump has pled not guilty to all charges and has repeatedly said that the cases against him are politically motivated.

Newsweek has reached out to Donald Trump for comment via the online press enquiry form on his official website.

If convicted, Trump could become the first former U.S. president to be sent to prison. Any such move would leave authorities with a number of dilemmas as they seek to keep him safe while preserving his mental health and ensuring justice is done. As an ex-president, Trump is entitled to Secret Service protection for the rest of his life.

Rogers told Newsweek that, if sent to jail, Trump would most likely be dispatched to “a maximum-security penitentiary so that none of his fanatical followers could possibly break him out.”

Referencing the business tycoon, Rogers added: “I would anticipate that he would not have any contact with inmates in the general population.

“If he had any contact at all with other prisoners, it would probably be in a separate, secured unit with other ‘dirty’ cops, prosecutors and judges,” he said. “In other words, he would be in a special unit with others whom the run-of-the-mill inmates would like to harm for putting them there in prison in the first place.”

Rodgers added that the danger to Trump would come if he is allowed to mix with the general prison population: “He would undoubtedly have a number of adoring fans. However, there would also be inmates who would try to kill him, in spite of Secret Service protection, just to make a name for themselves so that they would go down in history, not as common criminals and losers, but as someone who had killed an American president.”

Attorney Tray Gober, a managing partner at Texas-based law firm Lee, Gober & Reyna, told Newsweek that authorities would have to balance keeping Trump safe with ensuring isolation doesn’t collapse his mental health.

Gober said: “While considerations like isolation, heightened surveillance, and strategic placement address security concerns, it’s equally important to preserve an inmate’s mental health. Placing a high-profile inmate in solitary confinement may solve the problem of how to protect that person from attack, but it can destroy their mental health.

“Therefore, for any high-profile inmate with special security needs, it’s paramount for prison authorities to incorporate monitored outside recreational time, as well as secure shower and dining facilities, to strike the delicate balance between ensuring safety and upholding the principles of justice,” Gober added.