Elizabeth Holmes, once hailed as the youngest female self-made billionaire and an emblem of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship, will probably spend the next few years in a cushy minimum-security prison camp with access to activities like crafting or tennis, and no perimeter fence.
The 37-year-old Stanford University dropout was found guilty on Monday of a massive fraud at Theranos Inc., the blood-testing startup she founded, and faces as long as 20 years behind bars. But prison consultants and legal experts say that Holmes may serve as little as three years at one of the federal penal system’s less restrictive facilities for non-violent, white-collar criminals. She is likely to appeal to her conviction and could spend even less time incarcerated if she prevails.
Holmes may be sent to a women’s prison camp in Dublin, California, where actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin served sentences for their roles in a college-admissions cheating scandal, and newspaper heiress Patty Hearst spent time in the late 1970’s for bank robbery. Holmes also could end up at a similar lockup at Victorville, in the southern part of the state. Either one would be less restrictive than the medium-security facility British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell likely faces after her conviction last week on sex-trafficking charges.
“Her time will be punctuated by boredom, loud inmates and staff, and just monotony,” prison consultant Christopher Zoukis said of the former Theranos chief.
Holmes will be surrounded by other women serving time for non-violent crimes like drug peddling or money laundering, and the facility is relatively safe for inmates because physical conflicts are rare. Holmes “will have some notoriety because of her crime, but I don’t think she’s going to have a target on her back,” Zoukis said.
For now, Holmes remains free on bond and her sentencing date hasn’t been scheduled.
If, as expected, Holmes is sentenced to less than 10 years, she’d be eligible for the minimum-security camp in Dublin that has no fences or barbed wire to keep inmates in. According to the facility’s inmate handbook, it offers arts and hobby crafts like needlepoint, knitting and crochet; sports such as ping pong, basketball, and volleyball; and access to training “for non-traditional jobs such auto mechanics, electricians, plumbers, forklift operators, propane tank filling, and painters.”
A sentence longer than 10 years could place her in a neighboring low-security facility that lets prisoners spend time on sun decks and activities similar to the minimum-security camp, according to the prisoner handbook. In Victorville, recreational programs include pilates, spinning and mural painting.
‘Complete Shock’
Still, “it’s going to be a complete shock to her system,” said prison consultant Holli Coulman, who served 13 months at Victorville after she pleaded guilty in 2014 to wire fraud while working at Hewlett Packard Inc.
When Coulman was incarcerated, she said the yoga-class materials were only available on outdated VCR tapes, and the buildings are “freezing cold no matter where you go.” Inmates will be “yelling” at Holmes, and staff members who may resent her former status and wealth will “bark orders,” she said.
Another complication may be the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, which forced U.S. prisons to cut back on family visits and communal activities, including bagged food instead of hot meals served in dining halls.
“They’re getting peanut butter and jelly and baloney sandwiches every day -- over, and over, and over,” Coulman said.