Yoga and crochet: what could prison be like for Elizabeth Holmes? | Crime News

Elizabeth Holmes, once the youngest self-made billionaire woman and named as a symbol of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship, is likely to spend the next few years in a humble minimum security environment with access to activities such as crafts or tennis, and no perimeter fencing.

Theranos Inc. dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 37. The company, which he set up to carry out blood tests, was found guilty of a massive fraud on Monday and is serving 20 years in prison. But prison advisers and legal experts say Holmes could serve three years in one of the most restrictive facilities for non-violent white-collar criminals in the federal penal system. He is likely to appeal his sentence and could spend even less time in jail if he prevails.

Holmes could be sent to a women’s prison in Dublin, California, where Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were convicted of fraudulent college admissions for their role in the scandal, and Patty Hearst’s heir to the bank robbery in the late 1970s. Holmes could end up in a similar blockade in Victorville, south of the state. Either or both would be less restrictive after British Socialist Middle East Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking charges last week.

“His time will be full of boredom, loud prisoners and staff, and monotony,” said prison counselor Christopher Zoukis, a former Theranos chief.

Holmes will be surrounded by other women, such as selling drugs or laundering drugs that punish nonviolent crimes, and the facility is relatively safe for inmates because physical conflicts are rare. Holmes “will have a bit of notoriety for his crime, but I don’t think he’ll have a target on his back,” Zoukis said.

For the time being, Holmes remains on bail and his date of punishment has not been determined.

As expected, if Holmes were to be sentenced to less than 10 years, he would be entitled to a minimum security camp in Dublin that has no fences or barbed wire to keep prisoners. According to the facility’s inmate handbook, it offers arts and crafts. hobbies such as needlepoint, stitch, and crochet; sports such as ping pong, basketball and volleyball; and access to training “for unusual jobs such as auto mechanic, electrician, plumber, forklift operator, propane tank filler, and painter.”

A sentence of more than 10 years could be included in a low-security side facility that allows inmates to spend time on the sun and in activities similar to the minimum security framework, according to the inmate handbook. In Victorville, there are pilates, spinning and mural painting programs.

‘Full Shock’

However, “it will be a complete surprise to his system,” said prison adviser Holli Coulman, who spent 13 months in Victorville in 2014 working for Hewlett Packard Inc. after pleading guilty to fraud.

When Coulman was jailed, he said yoga-class materials were only available on outdated VCR tapes, and that the buildings were “very cold” no matter where you went. Prisoners will “shout” at Holmes, and workers who may be angry at his former condition and wealth will “bark at orders,” he said.

Another complication may be the recent rise in the Covid-19 case, which forced U.S. prisons to reduce family visits and community activities, including packaged food instead of hot meals served in canteens.

“They’re picking up peanut butter and jelly and baloney sandwiches every day – over and over again, and more,” Coulman said.

Shorter sentence

For Holmes, he and his partner Billy Evans, the son of a wealthy California host who had a baby in July, could be much shorter than the maximum sentence allowed in prison, said Robert Weisberg, a Stanford Law School criminal justice professor.

Since Holmes has no criminal record, it would be a surprise if he were more than three years old, Weisberg said. And part of his sentence could be probation or house arrest, and he has only two years left in the federal blockade, he said. Fraudulent convictions average about two years, he said.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw the three-month trial of founder Theranos, has great flexibility to impose a sentence. Holmes may consider her remorse for the crime because she is a new mother, Weisberg said.

In prison, the accommodation of the former millionaire will be simple and common. Coulman said it was located in one of the many cubicles made up of high blocks of incinerated walls along the long concrete walls. Each cubicle has a bunk for two inmates, and each will have a chair and a locker room, Coulman said.

Holmes is no stranger to a disciplined life, according to documents presented at his trial. The handwritten notes from 2005 to 2009 described the daily routine of waking up, meditating, and then eating a whey and a banana at 4 p.m.

‘Second Act’

This suggests that he is likely to be a prisoner model, and he will probably “soon begin to guess what his second or third act might be,” Weisberg said. “He will methodically live in prison, just as he lives everything.”

Once released, Holmes has been banned from serving as a civil servant in a public company for a decade following a 2018 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ruling that accused him of misleading investors.

But other convicted executives have managed to get their lives back on track after jail.

Martha Stewart, a home business owner, began marketing her branded products in 2004 after serving a five-month prison sentence for lying to authorities investigating the sale of her shares. Michael Milken, a former rubbish king who was convicted of securities and tax crimes in 1990, became a philanthropist and runs his own think tank, the Milken Institute. Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeff Skilling, who was convicted in 2006 of securities fraud and insider trading, is set to return to the energy world this year to promote an energy venture.

(Updates with Holmes are likely to appeal his conviction.)