Former Republican congressman and convicted conman George Santos is begging Donald Trump to free him from what he describes as the torturous conditions he is facing in prison, according to a dispatch he wrote for a local Long Island, New York newspaper.
In his piece for The South Shore Press, Santos makes his plea to Trump directly: “Intervene. Help me escape this daily torment and let me return to my family. I am a son, a sibling, a partner, a man whose life matters to those who love him. If there is any decency left in the offices that oversee places like FCI Fairton, let that decency move now.”
Santos is two months into a seven year prison sentence for wire fraud and identity theft at the Federal Correction Institution (FCI) in Fairton, New Jersey.
Santos says he was moved to the FCI’s Special Housing Unit (essentially, solitary confinement) on August 28 after a threat was made on his life. He alleges that officers at the facility neglected to bring him his inhaler for 30 hours and that he has been denied phone calls, emails, and visits from family members.
After The South Shore Press published Santos’ column, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took to champion his cause on X and alleged some additional abuses her former colleague supposedly faces in prison.
“I’m told he is in his cell 24 hours per day and he is only allowed to get a shower 3 times a week,” she wrote. “He does not get any sunlight. He’s only allowed to buy stamps from the commissary and is drinking water from the sink. This is torture.”
Her tweet includes a letter she appears to have received from Santos showing a map of a 6’ by 9′ cell. 6’ by 9′ is generally the size of a solitary confinement cell in American prisons.
Santos, 37, has been detailing life behind bars for The South Shore Press for several weeks. In previous columns, he has labeled life at FCI Fairton as “hell on earth,” and complained how he feels like his dignity is being stripped away in prison.
He has grown increasingly dramatic about the state of the facility and his health. For example, in his third column, Santos, who suffers from asthma, claimed “breathing becomes a daily struggle.” The former congressman also wrote, “The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America states clearly that ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ is forbidden.”
The Fifth Amendment guarantees Americans a fair trial. The Eighth Amendment protects Americans against “cruel and unusual punishment.”
On April 5, 2025, three months before he entered prison, Santos tweeted, “No matter how long I go away I want and demand I be kept in solitary confinement for the entire duration.”
The Bureau of Prisons did not comment on Santos’ allegations specifically when reached by the Daily Beast. They did say, “It is the mission of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) including the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Fairton to operate facilities that are safe, secure, and humane.”
“The BOP including FCI Fairton provides nutritionally adequate meals, prepared and served in a manner that meets established government health and safety codes... FCI Fairton has working air conditioning units, as well as alternative means of remaining cool like fans. FCI Fairton ensures temperatures are appropriate and, like every BOP facility, has contingency plans in place to address a large range of concerns or incidents.”
