As Elizabeth Holmes prepares to surrender to a federal prison Tuesday, she should be devastated about saying good-bye to her two small children and filled with anxiety about spending the next 11 years incarcerated, an experience that Martha Stewart once described as “horrifying.”
Jen Shah, another celebrity who preceded Holmes to federal prison, may have given the disgraced Theranos founder something else to worry about: The possibility that a member of the prison staff or a fellow prisoner, in possession of a contraband cell phone, could secretly photograph her and get those images leaked to the media.
That’s what Shah, the former star of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” thinks happened to her, according to TMZ. She has demanded an investigation into how photos of her behind bars made it to the outside world earlier this month. The photos showed the reality TV star walking in the prison yard of the minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas — the same facility where Holmes is likely to be incarcerated.
Jen Shah spotted in prison uniform in first photos since incarceration https://t.co/eLbQ8Yxt6D pic.twitter.com/5IOONEnwCJ
— Page Six (@PageSix) May 9, 2023
When Shah learned that Page Six had published the photos, she became worried. Through her representative Chris Giovanni, Shah said: “When I saw the photo and recognized the angle and location of where that photo was captured, I became immediately frightened.”
Given these factors, Shah said she didn’t think the photo was taken from outside the prison by a strategically placed professional photographer with a long lens. Instead, she told TMZ, “I strongly believe (it was taken) deep inside the compound at FPC — Bryan.”
Shah said she’s worried that the same person could photograph her while she’s in the shower, using the bathroom or changing her clothes, TMZ reported. She also insinuated that the photo was taken by a guard or other member of the prison staff, or that prison personnel gave a photographer special access to a place where she could be seen in the yard.
It’s also possible that another prisoner snapped the photos, using a contraband cell phone, said Larry Levine of Wall Street Prison Consultants. Levine, a former federal prisoner who advises white-collar defendants on preparing to enter prison, confirmed that inmates have cell phones and “it’s getting worse.”
If someone managed to secretly snap photos of Shah and leak them to the media, then “Holmes is a target for sure,” Levine said. A celebrity photo agency would probably pay handsomely for leaked photos of Holmes, just as it does for other celebrity prisoners.
Holmes is expected to follow Shah to the Bryan federal prison camp 100 miles outside of Houston. That’s the facility that was recommended by her trial judge, Edward Davila, when he ordered her to surrender on May 30 to start her 11-year sentence. However, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has the final say on the location of her incarceration, and may not make a final decision until …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
