Inside the Federal Prison in Texas Where Elizabeth Holmes Will Serve Her 11-Year-Sentence

Elizabeth Holmes, 39, is imprisoned at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, a minimum-security prison

The Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, on May 30, 2023, where Theranos' founder Elizabeth Holmes will serve her prison sentence. Holmes was ordered to begin serving prison time at the camp on May 30 after a court denied her latest request to remain free while appealing her fraud conviction. Holmes was sentenced to just over 11 years in prison for defrauding investors with her Silicon Valley start-up Theranos. (Photo by Mark Felix / AFP) (Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)
Elizabeth Holmes, FPC Bryan. Photo:

MARK FELIX/AFP/Getty (2)

Elizabeth Holmes arrived at a federal prison in Texas last week to begin serving out her more than 11-year-sentence on multiple fraud convictions.

Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood company Theranos, was convicted in 2022 for duping investors out of millions of dollars in connection with her failed medical startup.

The 39-year-old mother of two will now spend the next several years at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, a minimum-security prison typically for low-level offenders and white-collar criminals – a notable difference from her life as a Silicon Valley CEO.

The Brazos County facility located 100 miles outside of Houston in Southern Texas houses 650 female inmates and is where Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah is serving a 78-month prison stint for fraud charges.


According to Lynn Espejo, a former FPC Bryan inmate and now-criminal justice reform advocate, Holmes was likely to room with three other cellmates in a tight, concrete space, FOX Business reported in May.

Citing a sketch from previous incarcerated individuals obtained by The Wall Street Journal, prison cells at the camp are sparsely furnished, with bunk beds, a table, folding chairs and lockers.

Federal Prison Camp Bryan
Federal Prison Camp Bryan.

Sergio Flores/Bloomberg/Getty

Per the prison handbook, inmates are responsible for keeping their space clean and sanitized by making their beds, sweeping and mopping their room floor and taking out the trash.

Espejo said Holmes will be assigned a “big sister” who will help her become acclimated to life in prison, according to FOX.

She will be able to communicate with loved ones via email, phone and video calls, per a monthly time allotment, the handbook states, and will be allowed familial visits.

FPC Bryan
FPC Bryan.

Sergio Flores/Bloomberg/Getty

On Sunday, five days after turning herself in, Holmes reunited with her hotel heir husband, Billy Evans, and parents, Noel and Christian Holmes, during a visit in which Holmes and Evans were spotted potentially breaking prison regulations, according to the Daily Mail.

In photos obtained by the outlet, Holmes appears to be holding Evans’ finger, a possible violation of prison policy that states, “a brief kiss, embrace and/or handshake are allowed only upon arrival and departure,” according to the prison handbook.

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During the seven-hour visit, the couple was captured walking through the prison yard and spending time together on a picnic table, the Daily Mail reports.

Holmes first rose to prominence in 2014 as the founder and CEO of Theranos, which tricked investors by falsely purporting that its technology could run hundreds of medical tests using just a few drops of blood.

She was tried on 11 counts of fraud. The jury found Holmes guilty of four of the charges — three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

She is currently appealing her convictions.

 

 

 

 

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