This could be the life in prison of Elizabeth Holmes, the CEO of Theranos fallen from grace

2023-05-31 16:13:13

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, goes to prison 1:50

(CNN) — Elizabeth Holmes, once a Silicon Valley icon and paper billionaire, will now have to get up every morning at 6 a.m., work a job that earns as little as $0.12 an hour, and share toilets in a field of inmates in South Texas.

Elizabeth Holmes appeared Tuesday at the Bryan, Texas, Federal Prison Camp to begin serving her 11-year sentence after being found guilty of multiple counts of defrauding investors while running the now-defunct startup Theranos. His request to remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction was denied by an appeals court earlier this month.

Located about 100 miles from Houston, where Holmes grew up before moving to California to study at Stanford, the minimum-security federal prison FPC Bryan houses more than 600 female offenders.

Bryan has other notable recluses. It’s the same facility where Jennifer Shah, a cast member on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” is serving her own sentence for her involvement in fraud telemarketing.

At the time, Holmes herself graced magazine covers, appeared alongside celebrities such as Bill Clinton at conferences, and attracted huge numbers of investors for Theranos, which promised to detect a wide range of health problems with just a few drops of blood. . But it all started to unravel after a devastating investigation by The Wall Street Journal in 2015. Holmes is now a rare case of a startup founder. startup of Silicon Valley to be tried and convicted of fraud.

Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is escorted by corrections officers to the federal prison field, Tuesday, May 30, 2023, in Bryan, Texas. Holmes will spend the next 11 years serving her sentence for overseeing an infamous blood test hoax. (Credit: Michael Wyke/AP)

Federal prison camps are minimum-security institutions with dormitories, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. These prisons are sometimes nicknamed “federal camp” because they are less restrictive than other institutions.

But according to Mark MacDougall, a white-collar crime defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, prison will be no ride for Holmes.

“I think the people who talk about ‘Camp Fed’ have never really been inside a federal correctional facility,” MacDougall told CNN. “It’s not a place people would want to spend time if they could be anywhere else.”

According to MacDougall, FPC Bryan is likely heavily populated by white collar criminals. Accommodation at CPF Bryan typically consists of four-person bunk-bed dormitories and communal bathrooms.

“There is no privacy,” he said.

The rise and fall of a Silicon Valley star 2:29

According to the prison manual, inmates at FPC Bryan must hold down a job, with hourly wages ranging from $0.12 to $1.15. Holmes will have to wear a uniform of khaki pants and shirt, a far cry from his black turtleneck days. According to the manualYou may also not wear jewelry, except for a plain wedding ring and a religious medallion without stones, and the value of these items may not exceed $100 each.

MacDougall noted that there are many volunteer opportunities in Bryan, and it’s highly likely that someone with Holmes’ background could find themselves teaching.

“I hope it teaches in some way,” he said. “It’s a very common occupation for inmates who have some kind of education.” (Holmes dropped out of Stanford at 19 to pursue Theranos.)

Holmes, who became the mother of two children in the time between his indictment in 2018 and the start of your prison sentence, you will only be able to see your children and other family members during visiting hours on weekends and federal holidays, at FPC Bryan. Holmes and his family have most recently been living in California.

In MacDougall’s words, “Anyone who suggests they’re going to be in a nice environment or have it easy is fooling themselves.”