Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., penned an op-ed this week explaining that his recent prison sentence humbled him and helped him to understand the nature of grace.
“When I entered prison in July, I thought I knew what to expect. I thought humility would come gently. Instead, it came like a storm,” Santos wrote in a Wednesday piece for The Spectator titled “George Santos’s prison diary.”
Santos, who became the sixth member of Congress and first Republican to be expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 311–114 in December 2023, was sentenced in April to 87 months — more than seven years — in federal prison after pleading guilty in August 2024 to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
On Oct. 17, President Donald Trump commuted Santos’ sentence, characterizing it as excessive and noting Santos had been “horribly mistreated” by prison authorities, who subjected him to 41 days of solitary confinement because of an alleged death threat against him.
Santos wrote in his Spectator article that his weeks in solitary confinement at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey, were especially humbling, noting how it stripped him of all prestige and made him appreciative of simple things.
“Solitary confinement stripped me bare. I wasn’t a congressman anymore. I wasn’t a public figure. I was inmate number 58474-510. My meals came in dirty plastic trays that smelled rancid. Showers were only three times a week and outdoor time was only one hour a day, Monday to Friday,” he wrote.
Santos went on to evoke Jesus on the cross to push back against critics who condemned Trump for commuting his sentence. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., claimed during an interview last month that some of his Republican colleagues in Congress took self-righteous glee in Santos’ political destruction and expressed hope that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I said it then, and I’ll say it again: if Trump had pardoned Jesus Christ from the cross, he would still have critics,” Santos wrote. “Everyone is a critic these days. But I understand grace now. I understand humility. And that’s what I’m holding on to.”
“That night, I prayed. I thanked God. I thanked my family. And I thanked President Trump for believing in redemption. America is a country built on second chances. This nation was designed to allow grace.”
Noting that he is now trying to make restitution for the fraudulent activity that landed him behind bars, Santos said he is also working with youth outreach and prison reform groups. He said he is trying to forgive himself for his sins, but conceded some people will never forgive him.
“I went to Mass and sat in the pews like every other sinner seeking grace. I know some people will never forgive me,” he said. “But I also know that in America, no one is beyond redemption. I was in solitary confinement weeks ago. Today, I’m speaking to the world. That’s not luck – that’s providence. That’s what happens when God gives you one more chance and the President believes you deserve it.”
During an interview with Tucker Carlson shortly after his release, Santos claimed he realized during his imprisonment how far he had strayed from Jesus Christ. He also noted that Trump’s unexpected commutation of his sentence came a day after meeting with a priest and confessing his sins.
“I had really made peace with the fact that this was my predicament, just that morning,” he said of the day he learned he would be released. “And to tell me that there’s no divine intervention in this? I will never accept that, because there was no palpable appetite to give me clemency, according to every single person I had spoken to.”
“And the day after I go to confession and I square away my quarrels and my pendencies with Jesus Christ, I get commuted by President Trump? I mean, I am forever humbled to the president. It’s a remarkable story, and I don’t believe in coincidences anymore.”
Santos said he came to believe God was telling him: “You do right by me, I’m giving you a second chance.” He also told Carlson that he has since come to realize the futility of the materialism that once drove him, which he described as the “consumer mind virus.”
In an X post made a day after his release, Santos acknowledged his brokenness and the role he believes Christ played in his release.
“Yesterday, I was given something I never thought I’d have again: a true second chance at life. A chance to grow, to change, and to walk a better path,” he wrote. “First and foremost, I want to thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for never abandoning me. I’m far from perfect. I’ve made mistakes, I’ve stumbled, but I never lost faith in Him. His grace carried me when I couldn’t carry myself, and for that, I am eternally grateful.”
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
