The California judge who sentenced disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to more than 11 years in prison last week has recommended that she serve her time in a minimum-security women’s facility.
Holmes, 38, was sentenced to 135 months in prison on Nov. 18 after she was convicted of defrauding investors who backed her bogus blood-testing company.
According to a court filing from last week, Judge Edward Davila of the Northern District of California recommended she serve her sentence at Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas.
Described on its website as a “minimum security federal prison camp,” FPC Bryan is located about 100 miles northwest of Houston. The 37-acre campus houses 540 female inmates in “dormitory housing” with a low staff-to-inmate ratio. There is also reportedly very little perimeter fencing.
Criminal defense attorney Alan Ellis told Bloomberg that FPC Bryan’s relatively cushy digs are like “heaven” compared to other prisons. If Holmes serves her sentence there, he said, she will have “no walls, no bars, no fences.”
The facility’s handbook boasts of the board games, movie nights and correspondence courses available to inmates. All inmates are also required to work, and receive an hourly wage between 12 cents and $1.15.
Holmes has a 1-year-old son with her partner, hotel heir William “Billy” Evans, and is expecting a second child.
In his recommendation, Davila noted FPC Bryan’s lenient visiting policy.
“The Court finds that family visitation enhances rehabilitation,” Davila wrote.
The final decision on where Holmes will serve her time will be made by the Bureau of Prisons. She is expected to begin her incarceration on April 27, 2023.
Even a minimum-security facility will likely be a culture shock for Holmes, who previously requested home confinement. The former billionaire – who once bragged that “pretty people” like her did not go to jail – reportedly spent the last few years shacked up with Evans on the $135 million Green Gables estate in Woodside, Calif.
Prosecutors are also seeking $804 million in restitution to investors – including bigwigs like software mogul Larry Ellison and the Walton family of Walmart – who funded Theranos.
A hearing to determine how much Holmes will have to pay will take place in December. She is also expected to appeal her sentence, which she must do within two weeks of her initial sentencing date.
