The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 28th that inmates are showing great interest in their new ‘cellmate’ ahead of the imprisonment of Elizabeth Holmes (39), the founder of bio-venture Theranos, who committed the biggest scam in Silicon Valley history.
Former CEO Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison in the first trial in November last year but was not immediately imprisoned for reasons such as her pregnancy. She was also called ‘Woman Jobs’ because she liked to wear a black turtleneck shirt reminiscent of Apple founder Steve Jobs. She will begin her sentence on the 30th at Brian Federal Prison Camp (FPC) in northwest Houston, Texas.
With 655 female prisoners imprisoned, Brian FPC is a minimum-security facility that primarily houses white-collar offenders, low-level drug offenders and illegal immigrants. A book about the rise and fall of Theranos appeared in the camp’s library earlier this year, “Bad Blood,” a former prisoner released in March told the WSJ. The WSJ interviewed people who were or are currently incarcerated at the camp and said the book raises expectations for Holmes ahead of her incarceration.
“Some people have a ‘I want to be friends with him’ attitude,” said Tasha Wade, who is currently in prison. there is,” he said. Prison guards usually show special interest when celebrities are imprisoned. One prison guard is said to have said in a conversation with her colleagues that she was ‘looking forward to ordering Holmes to clean the pot’. New inmates must work in the kitchen for the first 90 days. Kitchen work, paid 12 cents an hour, is considered the hardest job at the prison.
You can also work as a telemarketer at a call centre operated by the U.S. Department of Corrections (BOP), but inmates who were brought in for fraud using telecommunications and the Internet like Holmes are excluded from this job. Even while in prison, Holmes can see his 22-month-old son and newborn daughter every weekend.
According to BOP regulations, children under the age of 10 can sit on the lap of an inmate parent, and female inmates are allowed to breastfeed. However, when the children pass away after a brief visit, the female inmates shed tears and feel sad, the inmates said. Holmes, who dropped out to start a business while attending Stanford University as a sophomore, could earn a two-year college degree in prison. Violent incidents between inmates and prison guards are said to be rare in this correctional facility. Most fights end in small skirmishes, such as slapping cheeks or grabbing hair, and there have been no reports of prison guards abusing prisoners.
However, there are reports of sexual violence between inmates in 2020. Holmes once rose to fame as a Silicon Valley star by claiming to have developed a device that could diagnose diseases with just a few drops of blood taken from his finger. However, his diagnostic skills were eventually found to be fictitious, and he was found guilty by a California jury in January of last year on charges of fraud and conspiracy.