Real-life housewife Jen Shah (left) and Theranos businesswoman Elizabeth Holmes (right). Seth Little, Jeff Chiu/ AP
- Elizabeth Holmes will be held in the same prison camp as Real Housewives star Jen Shah
- The Texas Women’s Prison offers business skills courses to all inmates.
- Both Holmes and Shah were convicted of fraud related to their business practices.
Elizabeth Holmes is set to serve her 11-year sentence for fraud related to her failed blood testing business at a Texas detention center that ironically offers business courses for inmates, according to an inmate guide.
Holmes was convicted in November 2022 on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after a jury found she had defrauded investors in her health technology company Theranos. On Tuesday, a judge denied Holmes’ request for parole while she appealed her conviction.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, she was later assigned to serve her sentence at Federal Prison Camp, a women’s prison in Bryan, Texas for those convicted of white-collar crimes.
It’s the same jail where Jen Shah, one of the stars of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” is being held three months into her six-and-a-half-year sentence after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to telemarketing fraud based on targeting older victims.
According to the prison manual, all inmates must be employed for at least 90 days. Inmates are given the opportunity to take tests to determine if they are particularly gifted in areas such as business or clerical work.
Based on these skills, prison authorities then assign inmates jobs in a factory where they earn a penny an hour to hone those skills. These inmates must accompany a more experienced worker to learn how to operate machines or perform data entry tasks.
However, the handbook states that inmates – including the former billionaire businesswoman – are not allowed to start or operate their own businesses while in the federal prison camp.
Holmes will also spend her time in prison making her bed in the early hours of the morning, looking after several people a day, keeping her cell clean by sweeping the floor, taking out the trash, and facing indiscriminate raids for contraband. Her schedule is strictly controlled and she is only allowed to move around the prison at certain times.
But it’s not all bad: the prison offers wellness classes, arts and crafts, and recreational programs.
Criminal defense attorney Alan Ellis told Bloomberg in November that FPC Bryan was “heaven” compared to other prisons.
“If you have to go there, it’s a good place,” Ellis told Bloomberg.
An attorney for Holmes and representatives for Shah did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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