After reading the CNN article by Catherine Thorbecke of CNN, someone who only knows about the Federal Prison System, or BOP, by what she’s read in the travel brochure, I felt compelled to tell readers what it will really be like for Elizabeth Holmes. You see, I’ve experienced that environment firsthand from an inmate’s perspective.
Upon arrival, as a self-surrender, she will most likely be drug tested. If drugs are found in her system, she will be isolated until her system is clean. Isolation (commonly known as “the hole”) in a federal camp usually means going inside the prison where the camp is a satellite. However, since Bryan is a standalone camp, the isolation cells are either inside the camp or, often at the nearest county jail.
She will be issued an entire prison wardrobe consisting of khaki shirts, bottoms, and, most likely, used shoes and a “fish kit.” As new inmates are nicknamed fish, a fish kit refers to basic toiletries for inmates to use until they can purchase their own through the commissary.
She will spend the first several weeks in Admissions and Orientation, which consists of sitting and listening to heads of each department, Security, Education, Physical Ed, Health Services, Psychology, and any special programs the prison might offer. Each department head informs the inmates what is expected of them in the case of Security or what is available in the case of all other facilities.
Each inmate is subjected to a psychological exam, usually by a psychologist that got C’s in college, forcing them to work for an organization like the BOP. The exam aims to ensure the inmate is stable enough to enter the new environment. In some cases, that means ensuring the inmate is not a physical risk to themselves or others.
The fun begins, or it did for me at least, when the inmate meets their “Team”, which consists of a Unit Manager, Case Manager, and Counselor. During this meeting, the inmate is informed that they will have these team meetings every six months until they are two years short of release, and then they happen every 90 days. The team meetings are designed to keep inmates on a positive rehabilitative track during their stay. Because the BOP works closely with the courts on collecting fines, restitutions, and other forms of monetary punishments, the inmate is reminded they have financial responsibility, and the program, FRP, requires that the inmate make an effort to fulfill this responsibility. Whereas I think the BOP is in for a collection fee, they are very insistent that you make an effort to pay more than the $25/quarter required to maintain participation status. They will be very interested in Holmes’ ability and desire to pay the $452M ordered by the judge.
However, the real punishment of prison is none of the above because, as humans, we can generally adapt to any environment. Anywhere in the Federal prison system is generally not a bad environment except for the Super Max facility that houses the worst of the worst in Florence, Colorado. Inmates are given decent food and a lot of time for recreation. Prison staff knows that a fed and active inmate is not necessarily a happy inmate but a more easily managed inmate.
So where does the real punishment come in? Prison is not where you are, rather but where you aren’t. You aren’t with your family if you have one. You put your significant other under a lot of stress which can, and often does, create resentment. Whereas the visiting room would seemingly be a happy place, it’s not really. Elation is short-lived as the visitors are ushered out, especially if visits are terminated early due to overcrowding.
The real victims are the children, especially so in Holme’s case. Her children are the victims of selfish, inconsiderate parents who tried to use them as tools to manipulate, first the jury and then the judge. They conceived their first child after her indictment which could only be seen as a potential attempt to solicit sympathy from a convicting jury, while they conceived their second child after her conviction as an obvious attempt to sway the court at sentencing. In my article “Elizabeth Holmes: Manipulator from Boardroom to Bedroom” I discuss her efforts to persuade the court at sentencing by conceiving a child after her conviction. Whereas she hoped to sway the court with sympathy, the judge recognized it for what it was. A defendant convicted for manipulating investors continued the same deviant behavior throughout the trial and at sentencing. Shame on those parents for what their about to put those children through.
As the world turns, Holmes will settle into her new life, the media will forget about her, the chance of success on appeal probably minimal, and by the time she is released, her children will potentially face ridicule from their peers for having a mother in prison. A mother that unsuccessfully used the children as pawns in just another manipulative move that didn’t work.
