Even though Elizabeth Holmes is just nine months into a projected nine years in federal prison, she appeared to have a happy 40th birthday on Saturday when her family paid her a visit and she got some playtime in the prison yard with her two young children.
The Daily Mail published photos of a smiling Holmes, running around the grassy yard with her toddler son, 2, and possibly playing a game of hide and seek around a tree. In other photos, Holmes was seen being held affectionally by her husband, Billy Evans, who also brought their daughter, who is about to turn 1, for the visit at the minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, left, is escorted by prison officials into a federal women’s prison camp on May 30, in Bryan, Texas.(Michael Wyke/AP)
Holmes, dressed in a prison-issue khaki top and pants, also spent some time at a red picnic table with her parents, Christian and Noel Holmes, and some unidentified friends. The Daily Mail said that it looked like Holmes, whose birthday was Saturday, could barely “contain her joy” during her time with her family and friends.
These images of Holmes show that she may be adjusting to prison life. A few days after the disgraced Theranos fraudster surrendered to the prison last May, she was seen in the yard, crying and otherwise looking emotional during a seven-hour visit with her husband and parents, according to a Daily mail report at the time.
Holmes — otherwise known as inmate Inmate No. 24965-111 — was found guilty in 2022 on four counts of fraud and conspiracy, related to allegations that she defrauded investors in her failed blood-testing startup. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but she may be able to reduce her term by two years through good conduct and participation in recidivism-reduction programs, the Washington Post reported last summer.
May 30, 2023: Female inmates walk the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, where Elizabeth Holmes on Tuesday begins her 11 year sentence for fraud. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
In her first days at FPC Bryan, the once high-flying Theranos CEO appeared “twitchy” from nerves and could be seen looking “around from side to side,” sources told The Daily Mail. But nine months later, she appeared to be more relaxed, the Daily Mail reported. The Stanford University dropout also was seen chatting amiably with other incarcerated women in the prison yard, and sources say she has made some friends behind the fenced-in facility.
One of those women is Jen Shah, the former star of “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” who preceded Holmes into the prison camp in February 2023. Previous reports said that Shah has begun teaching a workout class for herself and other prisoners, while the Daily Mail said that Holmes has joined the classes.
Shah, who is serving a 6½-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, has been offering “maternal advice” to Holmes, sources told The Daily Mail. The two women also have bonded over the challenges of being incarcerated, the Daily Mail said.
