Judge recommends pregnant Elizabeth Holmes is sent to minimum-security prison camp in TEXAS

A federal judge has recommended that Theranos Inc. founder and convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes serve her more than 11-year prison sentence in a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.

Holmes, who was sentenced on Friday, was told by US District Judge Edward Davila that her failure to accept responsibility for her crime would count against her. Despite being pregnant with her second child, she was subsequently sentenced to more than a decade behind bars and ordered to surrender in April.

It is unknown how far along Holmes is, but she will, in all likelihood, give birth prior to her reporting date of April 27, 2023. 

Davila has now recommended that Holmes be allowed family visitation at the low security camp, though she will be more than 1,800 miles away from her California-based partner, child and parents.

The prison camp the judge recommended is in Bryan, Texas, about 100 miles north of Houston, where Holmes attended high school. It is designated for female inmates and currently houses about 540 inmates.

Those serving time at the facility are allowed to accept multiple visitors on weekends.

The minimum-security women’s prison in Bryan, Texas where a California judge has recommended Elizabeth Holmes serve her 11.25 years behind bars

Holmes was sentenced Friday after being convicted of four counts of criminal fraud for repeatedly deceiving investors in her failed blood testing tech startup Theranos

According to the Wall Street Journal, the facility bares similarities to the one in West Virginia where Martha Stewart served time close to 20 years ago – the same one where former NXIVM president Nancy Salzman is now serving her three-and-a-half year sentence.

Holmes will have access to tennis courts and a running track. But, she will be forced to give up her signature all-black look in exchange for pastel green, gray and white outfits.

Distance may make visitation hard for Holmes’ family, whom she would be much closer to were she sent to the minimum-security prison in Dublin, California, which is just an hour drive outside of San Francisco. Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, who were involved in the college admissions scandal, both served their short sentences ay the Dublin facility.

Holmes and her legal team were given 14 days to appeal the sentence. Her attorneys said they would seek to let her stay out of prison on bail pending the outcome of the appeal.

The judge will later hold a hearing determining how much money she will have to repay. 

Federal prosecutors have also said that Holmes could receive close to a 15% reduction on prison time with good behavior, which would put her sentence at closer to 9.5 years with no possibility for parole.

In January, Holmes, 38, was convicted by a jury of four counts of criminal fraud for deceiving investors during her years long scheme to peddle bad blood testing technology at Theranos.

Following her conviction, Holmes became pregnant with her second child, which conservative commentator Megyn Kelly said she did in order to ‘get less prison time.’

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‘I hate to agree with the Twitter mob, but they’re angry about the pregnancy, suggesting she did that [on purpose],’ Kelly said on her SiriusXM podcast Monday, when discussing Holmes’ 11-year prison sentence.

Kelly said she understands ‘the theory she did that for sympathy.

‘She did that intentionally on the gamble that the judge would say, ‘I won’t throw the book at you for the sake of this child.”

But now, Kelly said, ‘that child is going to be without its mother for the first 11 years of his or her life.’

The host continued, ‘You know that you’re likely to go to prison, you know the odds of getting 18 months’ house arrest are nil. No one’s going to get that who committed these crimes and got convicted of them.

‘I just don’t understand. You get pregnant anyway?’ she asked, rhetorically, noting: ‘I, too, feel angry about it.

‘I don’t want to presume the motives, but the whole situation is a disaster.’

Aiding Kelly’s theory was the tech fraudster’s legal team, which argued that Holmes deserved more lenient treatment because she is now a devoted mother.

Heavily pregnant Holmes and her family remained silent as they walked into the court building, holding hands with her partner Billy Evans. She will have to self-surrender on April 27

A court sketch shows Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes waiting to be sentenced by Judge Davlia

Holmes defense team asked for a more lenient sentence because the fraudster is now a devoted mother. Her husband, hotel heir Billy Evans, pleaded with the judge for a light sentence on behalf of his young family with Holmes

During sentencing last week, Davila called the case ‘troubling on so many levels.’

‘Was there a loss of a moral compass here? The tragedy of this case is Ms. Holmes is brilliant.

‘Failure is normal. But failure by fraud is not OK. What is the pathology of fraud? Is it the inability to accept responsibility? Perhaps that the cautionary tale to come from this case.’

Addressing the court Holmes broke down in tears, saying: ‘I stand before you taking responsibility for Theranos. I loved Theranos. It was my life’s work.

‘There are so many things I would do differently if I had the chance. I tried to realize my dream too quickly. Yesterday I tried to change the world. Today, I’m wise, and want to change myself.’ 

Holmes’ husband, hotel group heir Billy Evans begged for mercy for his partner, citing the couple’s young son and the baby on the way.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila was shorter than the 15-year penalty requested by federal prosecutors but far tougher than the leniency her legal team sought for the mother of a year-old son with another child on the way.