Judge proposes Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes serve her 11-year sentence in a 'minimum-security' Texas prison camp

• A district judge proposed for Holmes to be sent to a prison camp at Bryan, Texas, court records show.
• Prison camps are minimum-security prisons with minimal or no perimeter fencing.
• Holmes was sentenced to 135 months in prison on November 18.

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A district judge proposed Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes be sent to a federal prison camp, court filings show.

District Judge Edward Davila recommended for Holmes to be designated to the Federal Prison Camp at Bryan, Texas, according to a November 21 filing. The Federal Prison Camp in Bryan is a minimum-security prison that houses female inmates.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons describes prison camps as "work- and program-oriented," and inmates are housed in dormitories. These prisons also have limited or no perimeter fencing. There are at least seven such prison camps in the US, the bureau's website shows.

Criminal defense lawyer Alan Ellis told Bloomberg that prison staff at the camp are more "open-minded," and that Holmes' lawyers had likely requested the location.

"No one wants to get kicked out because compared to other places in the prison system, this place is heaven. If you have to go it's a good place to go," Ellis said.

While Davila has recommended these provisions for Holmes' incarceration, the final decision is slated to be made by the US Bureau of Prisons. Holmes has been ordered to surrender herself into custody by April 27, 2023.

Holmes was sentenced to 135 months, or 11 years and 3 months, in prison on November 18. She was found guilty of defrauding Theranos investors of several hundreds of millions of dollars. Holmes was also sentenced to three years of supervision upon her release from prison.

"I am devastated by my failings," Holmes, who is pregnant, said in court. "I have felt deep pain for what people went through, because I failed them."

Holmes' former partner and Theranos COO Ramesh Balwani faces up to 20 years in prison and is expected to be sentenced in December.

Correction: November 24, 2022 — An earlier version of this story misstated the date by which Elizabeth Holmes was ordered to surrender herself into custody. It was April 27, 2023, not 2022.