Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood-testing company Theranos, turned herself in Tuesday to begin serving out her 11-year, three-month prison sentence, the Bureau of Federal Prisons confirms to PEOPLE.
Holmes, 39, reported to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, a minimum-security prison facility that houses 655 female offenders. The prison is about 100 miles from Houston, where she grew up.
According to its handbook, inmates will have job assignments as well as opportunities to participate in wellness programs, religious services, and recreation activities.
Holmes was convicted in 2022 on four counts of fraud in connection with her medical startup that duped investors out of millions of dollars.
Holmes’ attorneys filed a 132-page appeal earlier this year asking for a reduction in prison time after claiming the conviction was unjust and that Holmes did not intend to deceive investors, PEOPLE previously reported.
“The government’s case largely parroted the public narrative,” the appeal says. “The government put front and center the claim that Holmes knowingly and intentionally misrepresented to investors the capabilities of Theranos’s technology.”
Her request to stay out of prison while she appeals the conviction was denied.
Holmes gave birth to her second child in April.
In a sentencing memo, her partner, hotel heir Billy Evans, asked the court to give Holmes a lighter sentence, saying she would miss out on milestone moments with the pair’s two young children, The Mercury News reported.
During her time in prison, “Her kids might see her for a few hours on the weekend[s],” Lynn Espejo, a criminal justice reform advocate and former federal inmate, previously told PEOPLE.
According to the prison handbook, Holmes will be allowed 300 minutes of calling time per month granted in 15-minute allotments, as well as the opportunity for video calls.
Her family will be allowed to visit her at least four hours per month, “but usually the prison can provide more,” the prison website states.
Holmes first rose to prominence in 2014 as the founder and CEO of Theranos, which tricked investors by falsely purporting that its technology could run hundreds of medical tests using just a few drops of blood.
Holmes was tried on 11 counts of fraud for claims made to investors and patients of her Silicon Valley company. The jury found Holmes guilty of four of the charges — three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
