Elizabeth Holmes Says Time Behind Bars Has Been 'Hell' and 'Torture'

In a new interview with People from Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, where Holmes has served two years of an 11.25-year sentence (reduced to nine years for good behavior) over the collapse of the billion dollar blood-testing startup, she speaks out about life in prison and being separated from her family.

"I'm not the same person I was back then," Holmes, who has traded her signature black turtlenecks and crimson lipstick for khaki prison garb, told the outlet.

Her company promised to revolutionize the health care industry with cheap diagnostic testing and devices able to screen patients for hundreds of diseases with just a few drops of blood, but did anything but. And while she pleaded not guilty at her trial, and maintains her innocence today, Holmes admitted that "there are things I would have done differently."

"It's surreal. People who have never met me believe so strongly about me. They don’t understand who I am. It forces you to spend a lot of time questioning belief and hoping the truth will prevail," Holmes said. "I am walking by faith and, ultimately, the truth. But it's been hell and torture to be here."

In 2003, she launched her blood-testing start-up Theranos, which soared to a $9 billion valuation in a decade. Hailed as the next Steve Jobs, and backed by investors such as Rupert Murdoch and the family behind Walmart, Holmes became the nation’s youngest self-made billionaire in 2014.

But that all came crumbling down following the publication of an exposé in The Wall Street Journal that questioned the accuracy of the company's testing technology, with a federal probe leading to the indictment of Holmes and Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani -- her secret boyfriend at the time -- on charges of misleading investors and defrauding them along with patients for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Holmes tells People she's still processing the downfall that wiped away her entire fortune, and considers her trial and conviction in a San Jose courtroom in 2022 to be a "miscarriage of justice."

"First it was about accepting it happened," she said about her relationship with Balwani. "Then it was about forgiving myself for my own part. [And] I refused to plead guilty to crimes I did not commit. Theranos failed. But failure is not fraud."

On the stand, doctors and patients testified that the blood tests Holmes developed and marketed were a health care scam, however, and while the start of her prison sentence was postponed due to Holmes being pregnant, she wasn't mentally prepared to serve time as a mother with two babies.

She gave birth to her first child, William, just weeks before her fraud trial began with partner Billy Evans, whom she met at a rooftop charity event in Oct. 2017 during the Theranos scandal.

A year later she was pregnant again with daughter Invicta.

"I always wanted to be a mother," she explained. "I truly did not think I would ever be convicted or found guilty."

Now, as she balances being a mother to her children, when she's able to, and life behind bars, Holmes has settled into a new routine.

Each morning she wakes just after 5 a.m., eats fruit for breakfast, then does a 40-minute daily workout -- lifting weights, rowing and running on a track.

She also works at the prison's education building, earning 31 cents an hour as a reentry clerk, helping women slated for release to write résumés and prepare to apply for tax credits and other government benefits.

Once a week she also attends attends cognitive and behavioral therapy for PTSD overseen by a psychiatrist. She also counsels inmates who are rape survivors. It helps her to find meaning in her incarceration.

"Human beings are not made to be in cells," Holmes said. "It goes so far beyond understanding. I'm trying really hard not to tear up right now. I'm trying to grow, as every moment matters. And if one person's life can be touched trying to help them in a crisis, it matters."

Scheduled for release on April 3, 2032, Holmes says she hopes to travel with her family and to fight for reform of criminal justice system. She recently drafted an American Freedom Act bill -- a seven-page handwritten document -- to bolster the presumption of innocence and change criminal procedure.

"This will be my life's work," Holmes told People, adding that she is speaking out now as part of her mission to advocate on behalf of incarcerated persons and those ripped away from their children.

And while she's amassed a global reputation a biotech con artist who put lives at risk, Holmes said she plans to resume her career in healthcare technology after her release.

"There is not a day I have not continued to work on my research and inventions," she says. "I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone."