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Oct. 19 (UPI) — Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., a convicted fraudster and identity thief, has said he will work to reform U.S. prisons, having been released from a penitentiary Friday by President Donald Trump.

Trump commuted Santos’s seven-year sentence for wire fraud and identity theft, the latest in a series of moves by Trump to exonerate associates and Republicans involved in criminal activity.

Santos was expelled from the U.S. House in 2023 after refusing to resign following a scathing ethics investigation uncovered his criminal activity. In an interview with the Washington Post, Santos called his time in federal prison “dehumanizing” and “humbling.”

The former representative admitted to stealing the identities of 11 people, including his own family members. He served 84 days in prison before being exonerated by Trump and released from prison Friday night. He also admitted that he embellished and fabricated his biography during his run for Congress in 2020.

Santos called the prison system, and the facility where he was housed, FCI Fairton in N.J., as “broken” with “rotting facilities, and administrators who seem incapable or unwilling to correct it.” He said a large hole in the ceiling exposed “thick, black mold,” and claimed broken air-conditioning systems forced inmates to endure sweltering heat.

“The building itself is hardly fit for long-term habitation: sheet metal walls, shoddy construction, the look and feel of a temporary warehouse rather than a permanent facility,” Santos wrote on The South Shore Press website while he was incarcerated.

As part of his plea deal, Santos agreed to pay $600,000 in restitution and forfeiture costs.

Santos pushed back on critics who claim the former congressman is not being held accountable for his crimes, and said that, beyond repentance, he has “dealt a second chance.”

“I understand people want to make this into “he’s getting away with it. I’m not getting away with it,” Santos said following his release. “I was the first person ever to go to federal prison for a civil violation … I don’t want to focus on trying to rehash the past and want to take the experience and do good and move on with the future.

In announcing Santo’s commutation on social media, Trump claimed that the former congressman had been “horribly mistreated,” and that “at least” the former representative had the “Courage, Conviction, and intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”

Santos, 37, served fewer than three months of his seven year sentence. He said he has no plans to re-enter politics and would do his best to repay campaign donors based on “whatever the law requires of me.”

After Sudan’s army recaptured the national capital region of Khartoum in March, tens of thousands of people returned to check on their homes and reunite with loved ones.

The joy of returning was tempered by the shock of seeing the damage caused during nearly two years under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), recognised by many Sudanese and the UN as the de facto authority in Sudan, since April 2023.

In a region whose hospitals and food and medicine stores had been systematically plundered by the RSF, many returnees started falling sick.

Omdurman falters

Many of the returnees had settled in Omdurman, one of the national capital’s three cities, where living conditions were slightly better than in the other cities. This is because several localities in Omdurman never came under the RSF’s control, insulating it from heavy clashes, pillaging, and looting.

Omdurman quickly became overcrowded, with “thousands of people [returning] from Egypt alone”, according to Dr Dirar Abeer, a member of Khartoum’s Emergency Response Rooms, neighbourhood committees spearheading relief efforts across the country.

The crowding, Dr Abeer said, meant an accelerated spread of cholera, an acute, highly contagious diarrhoeal infection that is endemic to Sudan and can be fatal if not treated.

“In areas south of the Nile in Omdurman, there are a lot of corpses rotting next to [or in] the Nile, and this has [partially] caused the spread of infection,” said Badawi, a volunteer in Omdurman who declined to give his full name due to the sensitivity of speaking in a warzone.

Cholera has become an epidemic in Sudan, spreading in several states, including White Nile and Gadarif, and killing hundreds in the last two weeks.

As in Khartoum, the spread was fuelled by overcrowding and a lack of essential services in these regions.

The waterborne disease could be stopped with basic sanitation and provisions, said Fazli Kostan, the project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.

“But that’s not really possible right now,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to a lack of electricity to pump water since Omdurman’s electricity grids went down on May 14.

The RSF had fired a barrage of suicide drones that day, which took out major power stations and grids, consequently shutting down water treatment plants and causing a sharp rise in cases.

Deprived of safe drinking and bathing water, people have resorted to drinking contaminated water from the Nile, as well as scooping up water from the ground after it rains, Badawi said.

The SAF-backed Ministry of Health (MoH) reported a huge surge in daily cholera cases in the national capital region between May 15 and May 25, with at least 172 people dying between May 20 and May 27.

The UN says daily cases spiked from 90 to more than 815 in the latter half of May.

Patients waiting in the streets

Those who contract the disease often rush to the nearest hospital, further straining an already overwhelmed and ill-equipped health sector. However, local volunteers said many people do not experience life-threatening symptoms and that they would be better off staying at home and isolating themselves.

The overcrowding at hospitals has further exacerbated the spread of the disease and overstrained the already collapsing health sector, they explained.

“We do not have enough medication or medical tools, and the rate of people coming to the hospitals is far more than we can handle,” said Kareem al-Noor, a medic at al-Nao hospital in Omdurman.

“The [remaining hospitals] are at full capacity and people are also waiting for treatment, crowded on the streets,” al-Noor added.

Dr Abeer feels the SAF-backed health authorities are not doing enough to tackle the epidemic. While she acknowledged that the health sector was largely destroyed by the RSF, she believes the current health authorities could be doing more.

Al Jazeera submitted written questions to Dr Montasser Towarra, the MoH spokesperson, asking him what measures the ministry is undertaking to help volunteers and to provide basic provisions.

He had not answered by the time of publication.

Hunger exacerbates the crisis

Sudan is also suffering an acute hunger crisis.

Since the civil war, millions of Sudanese have struggled to feed their families due to spoiled harvests, the systematic looting of markets and food aid and the destruction of homes and livelihoods.

According to the UN, about 25 million people – more than half the population – currently suffer extreme food shortages.

Hunger can weaken bodies and lead to an acute increase in contagious diseases, according to Alex De Waal, an expert on Sudan and famine.

He noted that civilians – especially children – have always been more likely to die from diseases if they are also on the brink of starvation.

“We could see an excess of hundreds of thousands of deaths [due to these factors] over the next year,” warned De Waal.

The UN has also warned that up to one million children could die from cholera unless the spread is thwarted quickly.

The only way to thwart the health crisis is to repair basic provisions such as electricity and sewage systems to improve sanitation, said De Waal.

However, he believes that repairing essential services is not a priority for the army, which remains the de facto authority.

Al Jazeera sent written questions to SAF spokesperson, Nabil Abdullah, to ask if the army is planning on repairing vital resources such as bombed electricity grids.

Abdullah said, “These questions are not for the army, but for the Ministry of Health.”

Tawarra from the MoH also did not respond to these questions.

De Waal suspects the army is prioritising combat operations against the RSF.

“My sense is the army is too stretched financially and organisationally to prioritise anything other than fighting the war,” he told Al Jazeera.

An eight-month-old baby has been saved from shocking conditions, after police officers uncovered a scene regarded as one of the most disturbing they’d ever encountered

At a property search by horrified police officers, a goat carcass rotted in the bathtub, while over 40 animals roamed the house. Meanwhile, right in the middle of the chaos, an eight-month-old baby lived amongst them.

That’s what authorities found inside a South Carolina home, now being described as one of the most disturbing scenes ever witnessed by officers. Kayla Renard and Nicholas Foley were arrested after police were alerted by the Department of Social Services, which had growing concerns for the child’s well-being.

“During our investigation, we uncovered severe, unsafe and unsanitary conditions that put the infant at risk,” authorities said. The child was removed and placed with a relative after police conducted a criminal history check.

Inside the home, the smell was “overwhelming”, and the floors were covered in animal waste. In a Facebook post, Honea Path Police revealed, “Officers found the residence infested with numerous animals, including raccoons, rabbits, dogs, cats, chickens, and deceased animals. Animal faeces and waste are throughout the residence.”

Police said they had seen nothing like this. “In my 30-plus years of service, I have never encountered such a horrific situation involving unsanitary conditions and such a large number of animals,” they added.

41 live animals were found at the property, including 25 dogs, three cats, five raccoons, six chickens, and two rabbits. The distressing scene led officers to contact Dr. Kim Sanders from PAWS for help.

According to PAWS, the animals were in a devastating state, and were found to be “severely dehydrated, covered in faeces, and the majority of them were extremely emaciated.” Six dead animals were also discovered, including a baby goat in a Tupperware bin found in the kitchen.

Describing the atmosphere inside the home, Kim recalled: “The ammonia burned our eyes.” She added: “The home was unfit for any living creature, let alone an eight-month-old baby girl.”

While the animals are now in safe hands and receiving medical care, Kim admitted that the emotional trauma they endured will take longer to heal. “All of the animals are undergoing medical care and are expected to recover at this time. The emotional trauma they sustained will be a bigger challenge to overcome,” she said.

The arrested couple have since been charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, ill treatment of animals, and violations of city ordinances.

But what shocked officers even more was how the pair reacted. According to Chief Christopher Miller, there was no remorse.

“Sitting there, calm and really no emotion. No facial expressions,” he said. “You would think that they’d be a little upset that someone was taking their eight-month-old baby, that the police were there and discovered the horrific conditions of this house.”

“You would think that they would have to know that they were in trouble,” he added.

Kayla and Nicholas were both handed $10,000 surety bonds – Nicholas has since posted bail.

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A MAN and his company have been charged after a 27 tonne mountain of rotting rubbish was dumped in a road.

The mound of industrial waste, which is longer than two double-decker buses combined, was dumped by fly-tippers back in January.

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Furious locals complained about being trapped inside their homes by the humongous 80ft mountain of waste.

Local businesses were also been left stranded due to the blockage on Watery Lane in Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Now, Lichfield District Council said a man from Uttoxeter now faces multiple charges.

These include depositing waste, endangering road users, dangerous driving, breaching HGV drivers’ hours regulations, and obstructing the highway.

A company, based near Stafford, has been charged with depositing the waste and obstructing the highway.

Resident Elaine Hutchings, who owns a livery yard, previously said that the festering pile could be smelled from a distance.

She explained that the rural road – which was already inaccessible on one end due to ongoing works – was now completely unusable.

She said: “It’s industrial rubbish, building waste, you can smell it.

“Watery Lane is used as a cut-through. The one end was already shut due to scheduled works and this being dumped this morning means residents and businesses will be left isolated.”

She added that nine or ten households had been cut off – with a small number, including Elaine’s, able to escape their properties via an alternative route set up by housing developer Redrow.

The local told how staff from Lichfield District Council had been on-site to move the build-up, adding: “I had a message from a farmer and they sent me a photograph.

“I drove up and called the council, councillors and the police were already there.

“They are trying to sort the logistics of trying to get it moved.”

Both the man and company who have been charged are due to appear at Cannock Magistrates’ Court on July 1.

Councillor Doug Pullen, the leader of Lichfield District Council, said: “This was an appalling act of environmental crime.

“Local people woke up to find their only route to and from their homes completely blocked, and the cost to the taxpayer of removing and disposing of the waste was nearly £10,000.

“Thanks to the swift action of our environmental health officers, suspects were quickly identified, leading to these charges.

“We take a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping, because that’s what our communities rightly expect.

“This case is about more than prosecution. It’s about protecting our environment, supporting law-abiding businesses, safeguarding local people—and sending a strong message that illegal dumping will not be tolerated.”

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