The Theranos founder is serving her prison sentence at the same facility as the reality star.
Jen Shah's prison consultant is speaking out about Elizabeth Holmes' prison sentence. On the same day that the disgraced Theranos founder reported to Bryan Federal Prison Camp to begin her 11-year sentence related to her fraud and conspiracy convictions, Justin Paperny told ET's Kevin Frazier that Holmes and Shah, who's his client, will likely cross paths at the facility.
"There's a guarantee they're going to run into one another," Paperny told ET of the Texas prison. "There's also going to be an understanding amongst them, so for that reason, I suspect they'll connect. They may become friends."
Paperny noted that Shah, who reported to prison in February to begin her six-and-a-half-year sentence after her fraud conviction, has "adjusted really well" to life in prison.
"She doesn't complain. She's teaching. She's making the most of her experience," Paperny said of Shah. "... She's finding the meaning through this experience, namely, teaching other women who have not had the advantages and benefits that she has had. She's using that platform for good. She's avoiding drama. She's doing her job, and she's mentoring."
With that in mind, Paperny believes that Holmes should look to Shah as an example of how to get the most out of her time inside.
"If Elizabeth chooses to adjust like Jen, I suspect they could be friends. Perhaps Jen, as I've encouraged her to do, could even mentor her," he said. "... If Elizabeth Holmes does half as well as Jennifer Shah has, then Elizabeth Holmes' family should be proud of her."
If Holmes does follow in Shah's footsteps, Paperny, who's also an attorney, believes that her sentence could be reduced like his client's was.
"Jennifer may serve 30 months in prison on a six-and-a-half-year sentence, and I suspect Elizabeth Holmes, on an 11-year sentence, will serve roughly seven and a half years in prison," he said.
As for what those years will look like, Paperny noted that Holmes will be given a brown uniform and boots upon her arrival at the facility.
"Elizabeth, like Jen, will be able to shop in the commissary to buy sweats and workout stuff, and just more regular-looking type clothes," he said. "But you are required to wear [the brown outfit] Monday to Friday from morning till evening. On the weekends, you can wear sweatpants, you can scale it back a little bit, but you are required to wear that brown uniform during the day and to visitation."
With her clothing in order, Holmes will get her first look at her home for the foreseeable future.
"It's going to be a cubicle with two to eight people inside of that cubicle," he said. "You're living amongst other women, and that comes down to something Elizabeth Holmes needs to embrace... She'll be living right on top of other women with very little privacy. That's probably the hardest thing to endure."
As Holmes comes to terms with her living arrangements, Paperny said he'd encourage her to listen more than she speaks.
"She's moving into an environment, where women have lived for weeks, months, decades, and years, and all eyes will be upon her. For that reason, she needs to adjust well, she needs to lay low, she needs to never complain, never offer unsolicited advice," he said. "There will be people, perhaps, looking to exploit her, looking to be a friend... I encourage new prisoners to spend 99 [percent] of your time listening and studying, one [percent] of the time talking."
While Holmes won't be cleared to work right away, Paperny said he'd encourage her to use that time to "walk around and look for an opening and apply for it."
"She could work as an orderly scrubbing toilets and showers. She can work in food service, scrubbing pots and pans, serving food in the buffet line three times a week," he said. "Jennifer Shah, thankfully, was able to get a wonderful job in education where she is teaching."
In addition to her job, Holmes will be able to pass the time by working on her appeal, exercising, spending time in the library and communicating with her family, including her two children.
"There are myriad opportunities to communicate in prison," Paperny said. "There's good old snail mail. There's visits that will happen once to twice a month on Saturdays and Sundays... There's email at five cents a minute... Fortunately, in the female camps, there's video chats that enable her... to visit with her family for 15 minutes."
No matter how she spends her time, Paperny suggested that Holmes should wake before breakfast at 6:30 and forego nighttime activities.
"If I were Elizabeth Holmes, I would encourage her to wake early, so she can spend several hours in the quiet room working on her appeal," he said. "... I'd encourage her if she wakes early to go to bed early, because so many of the problems, they happen in the TV room at night."
As for the minimum security facility itself, Paperny noted that there are "no controlled movements like you see in a higher security camp."
"Part of the reason they call these minimum security camps country clubs is because there are no fences or barbed wire," he said. "You have so much room to roam around the day, which makes you feel very free, and it provides a lot of opportunity for exercise, recreation, working in the library, programming."
Despite all the opportunities available at the facility, Paperny said "it is absolutely a federal prison with pitfalls and problems."
"You're separated from your family. You're told what your job is, what time to go to bed," he said. "... It is a new environment, and hardly a day passes without someone getting into trouble because they don't understand this foreign world of imprisonment. They don't invest the time to understand the written and unwritten rules."
Essentially, Paperny said, "It's gonna come down to her willingness to prepare and make the most of this 135-month federal prison sentence she has... If she's not productive, 11 years will feel like a century."
"It's brutal [but]... she still has it better than most," he said, before noting that Holmes' time in prison could be "a tiny little blip" in her life.
"[She could] use it to rebuild her legacy, to create a record there. It shows her children what she learned through struggle, how she overcame it," Paperny said. "She can really help set the tone for their life, or it could turn out to be a life sentence, which is the case for so many people who choose to prepare poorly, both before, during and after prison."
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