Elizabeth Holmes’ prison sentence keeps getting shorter

After being convicted of defrauding investors in 2022, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. These days it’s closer to eight o’clock. And it could very well be reduced further.

Holmes’ scheduled release date, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, has been delayed to Dec. 30, 2031. Some of that reduction happened some time ago. In July 2023, his sentence was reduced by almost two years after only a month and a half in captivity. All federal prisoners automatically receive a 15% sentence reduction for good behavior

Federal prisoners can earn good behavior time through several acts, ranging from participating in programs to engaging in “productive activities.”

Prisoners can also be released up to 12 months early if they complete the office’s residential drug program. There is no indication of what other options, if any, Holmes availed himself of. The Bureau of Prisons is not providing specific details on release planning or plans, citing “reasons of privacy, safety and security” of inmates.

Inmates can also receive credit for time served for any incarceration prior to their sentencing date, but because Holmes was out on bail after his indictment, that apparently precludes any reduction on that front.

She could also reduce her sentence by accumulating earned time credits (ETC). It revolves around a classification meeting (which takes place within the first 28 days of a prison sentence) for the First Step Act. This is a criminal justice reform bill that was signed into law in 2018 with the goal of reducing the federal prison population.

Through ETCs, inmates can earn 10 days for each month they are in the program (reducing the sentence by up to 120 days). During the second year, these gains can be up to 15 days per month. In total, ETCs can shave about a year off a sentence.

At the end of her sentence, Holmes may be eligible to enter a halfway house, where she can leave for work, medical appointments and generally a brief social pass each week. And, assuming she is a model prisoner, she could spend the last six months of her sentence in house arrest.

Holmes’ daily routine

Holmes seems to have settled into prison life. Earlier this year she said People magazine, she wakes up every day around 5 a.m., eats a breakfast of fruit, then exercises for 40 minutes. At 8 a.m., she begins her job as a reentry clerk in the facility’s education building, earning 31 cents an hour. There, she helps women write their resumes and apply for tax credits. She also works as a lawyer and gives a French course, the magazine says.

Once a week, she undergoes cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD, supervised by a psychiatrist. And in her free time, she reads everything from the I Ching to Harry Potter novels. Twice a day she calls her family, often waiting an hour or more for a phone to open.

Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors after Theranos’ “finger prick” blood testing technology was exposed as a fraud. The company’s former president (and Holmes’ boyfriend), Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, was sentenced separately, to a sentence of nearly 13 years, which has since been reduced by more than two years. She continues to claim that her imprisonment is unjust.

“I refused to plead guilty to crimes I didn’t commit,” she said. “Theranos failed. But failure is not fraud.”