‘It’s Been Hell’: Disgraced Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Says Prison Life Involves Reading ‘Harry Potter’ and Working for 31 Cents an Hour

Two years into her original sentence of 11.25 years (now reduced to nine years for good behavior) for fraud and conspiracy while operating her billion-dollar blood-testing startup Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes spoke to People magazine about her life behind bars.

“It’s been hell and torture to be here,” she said of her time spent at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas.

She describes the heartbreak she experiences every time her children, who are 2 and 3 years old, leave after visitations. And, maintaining her innocence, her frustration with people’s accusations about her.

“People who have never met me believe so strongly about me. They don’t understand who I am,” she told People.

Related: Why Did the Menendez Brothers Murder Their Parents? A Shocking Tale of Money and Abuse.

Holmes, like all prisoners at Camp Bryan who are deemed medically fit, has a job and earns 31 cents an hour as a reentry clerk. She says she helps women prisoners who are being released write their resumes and apply for government benefits.

“So many of these women don’t have anyone, and once they’re in there, they’re forgotten,” she told People. She also works as a law clerk and teaches French classes.

Holmes says she fills her downtime reading books — everything from Harry Potter to the ancient Chinese divination manual I Ching — and sees a psychiatrist to help her cope with PTSD from the alleged abuse she testified she suffered from ex-boyfriend and Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. “I wish that I left, or I had seen the abuse or understood it — and why I didn’t — and I’m finding peace with that,” she said.

Holmes is scheduled to be released in April of 2032. She says her future plans revolve around spending time with her family and advocating for incarcerated persons separated from their children. “This will be my life’s work,” she said.

Related: I Worked Side By Side With Elizabeth Holmes. She Seemed Like a Visionary, But We Were All Duped — and It’s a Comfort to See Justice Served.