Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Prison Sentence for Theranos' Elizabeth Homes, $800M Restitution (theguardian.com) 112
"Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Elizabeth Holmes to 15 years in prison," reports the Guardian, "and require the Theranos founder to pay $800m in restitution, according to court documents filed on Friday."
A jury found Holmes guilty in January of four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy. Her sentencing is scheduled for 18 November, and she faces a maximum 20 years in prison. Prosecutors argued that "considering the extensiveness of Holmes's fraud", their recommended sentencing would "reflect the seriousness of the offenses, provide for just punishment for the offenses, and deter Holmes and others".
Holmes's lawyer argued in documents filed on Thursday that the ex-Theranos boss should not be sentenced to prison at all and, at most, should receive 18 months of house arrest. The court filings argued that Holmes had been made a "caricature to be mocked and vilified" by the media over the years, though she is a caring mother and friend.
"Ms Holmes is no danger to the public," Holmes's lawyer said in the court documents. "She has no criminal history, has a perfect pretrial services compliance record, and is described by the people who know her repeatedly as a gentle and loving person who tries to do the right thing."
Holmes's lawyer argued in documents filed on Thursday that the ex-Theranos boss should not be sentenced to prison at all and, at most, should receive 18 months of house arrest. The court filings argued that Holmes had been made a "caricature to be mocked and vilified" by the media over the years, though she is a caring mother and friend.
"Ms Holmes is no danger to the public," Holmes's lawyer said in the court documents. "She has no criminal history, has a perfect pretrial services compliance record, and is described by the people who know her repeatedly as a gentle and loving person who tries to do the right thing."
Seems about right (Score:5, Insightful)
With losses in the hundreds of millions, and in the medical field where lives are on the line, the only thing in Elizabeth's favor is a lack of previous criminal record. Getting 15 out of the maximum 20 years as her sentence sounds about right. I have seen articles claiming something like 8 years is more likely though, so this could just be the prosecutors aiming high and hoping they get closer to 10-12.
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Feather handcuffs for a huge financial crime.
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With losses in the hundreds of millions, and in the medical field where lives are on the line, the only thing in Elizabeth's favor is a lack of previous criminal record. Getting 15 out of the maximum 20 years as her sentence sounds about right. I have seen articles claiming something like 8 years is more likely though, so this could just be the prosecutors aiming high and hoping they get closer to 10-12.
She'll sentenced to only 15 years because of her "good behavior" (no previous criminal record). Ironically enough, those articles may be referring to the fact that she will probably be eligible for early release after serving a pathetic 8 years, because (you guessed it)...good behavior. Like Bizarro world double-jeopardy where you get rewarded again for doing the same thing.
With logic like this, a 14-year old virgin church choir singer who murders her parents deserves little more than probation due to her
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She'll sentenced to only 15 years because of her "good behavior" (no previous criminal record). Ironically enough, those articles may be referring to the fact that she will probably be eligible for early release after serving a pathetic 8 years, because (you guessed it)...good behavior. Like Bizarro world double-jeopardy where you get rewarded again for doing the same thing.
Lets be accurate here. The first would be good behavior prior to the events, providing for a more lenient sentencing. The second would, potentially, be early release for good behavior while in prison.
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She'll sentenced to only 15 years because of her "good behavior" (no previous criminal record).
Which is completely ridiculous. Imagine an auto company selling cars that they knew where defective and dangerous, and their defense is "Hey, what about all those millions of cars we made that DIDN'T blow up?"
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Which is completely ridiculous. Imagine an auto company selling cars that they knew were defective and dangerous, and their defense is "Hey, what about all those millions of cars we made that DIDN'T blow up?"
No imagination necessary; that's pretty much Ford's modus operandi. Just mix in a dose of: "If it's cheaper to pay off the families when they sue than it is to make the cars NOT explode; let the bastards burn." Yes, that's where that line in Fight Club came from. Ford's done that.
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No, after finding the article [mercurynews.com] again it was estimated that the sentencing guidelines for her crime would bring an 11-14 year sentence, but that judge Davila has a precedent of offering 30% less time for similarly large fraud cases. So that makes it about 8 years total. I believe the standard for early release for felony fraud cases is 75% of your total sentence, so with good behavior she would be out in 6 years (if I'm right about early release).
We shall see, but I haven't read any analysts who think she is
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Not to defend the "justice system" too much but FIFTEEN YEARS is a long time especially for basically defrauding some rich assholes. I think you might need to re-calibrate your expectations.
A 14 year-old also shouldn't get a life sentence either.
Re: Seems about right (Score:2)
Re: Seems about right (Score:2)
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She didn't just bilk some rich assholes. Her bullshit tests were used for actual people's bloodwork, resulting in people either getting treatment they didn't need or skipping procedures they did need.
I'm not saying she's all peaches and cream, but I'm not finding accounts of actual people getting treatment or skipping procedures because of bad test results. I do see some people got false-scares about cancer markers that were cleared up with a second blood test.
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She's still not gonna sleep with you...
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A 14 year-old also shouldn't get a life sentence either.
Would you suggest the parents serve instead, because that would be fucking awesome for responsible parenting to increase about ten-fold overnight...
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I like that idea.
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Doesn't matter if it's 1 year or 8 years. Prison is not a cake walk. You will serve very hard time. Even a month in America's prison system would be enough to cure most people from committing future crimes.
And if that latter statement were true, I'd imagine the recidivism rate for former hard timers would be damn near zero. And yet, I'm bettin' it ain't so much.
The Incarcerated States of America is quite a demeaning reference, until you realize how accurate it is compared to the rest of a civilized world.
Doesn't matter if it's 1 year or 8 years. They're likely making money off you the whole time. Much like education, I believe for-profit is the main problem infecting that societal system now.
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The problem I have with this sentence (Score:3)
Our priorities are whacked.
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It is but I don't think it should be (Score:3)
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Indeed. She should be up for risking death of customers. I do agree that prison does not solve anything and just provides a form of revenge.
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The problem with that line of argument is that at the trial the prosecution claimed that she knew Theranos machines were not working and were doing the tests on conventional machines.
So either she didn't know the Theranos machines were working or she did. The prosecution can't have it both ways. Given the conviction was obtained on the basis that she knew the machines were not working and was using conventional machines to do the testing then you cannot claim that she put people's lives at risk for a bigger
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We need less of the former, and MUCH MORE of the latter.
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Locking up (black) weed smokers en-masse is not the same as locking up rich people engaged in white-collar crimes.
Prison is the wrong punishment for either. Non-violent people don't belong there. There is always a better solution.
Put an ankle tracker on Liz and assign her to change bedpans in nursing homes for 60 hours per week for the next 20 years.
Then she can benefit society instead of being a drain.
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Put an ankle tracker on Liz and assign her to change bedpans in nursing homes for 60 hours per week for the next 20 years.
The US has a bad history [usnews.com] with forced labor. In this case I can certainly understand the desire to have Holmes work off her debt, but forced labor of any kind has led to a long history of abuse.
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The US has a bad history [usnews.com] with forced labor.
Forced labor abuse is far worse in prisons than outside prisons, so I'm not sure what your point is.
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In some prisons you can't even get a job detail. There aren't enough details available for all the prisoners. Too many prisoners, not enough people to keep an eye on them when they're on detail.
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Non-violent criminals of other kinds (petty theft etc), but even violent criminals, can be rehabilitated without relying on incarceration-only as punishment. Psychopaths and sociopaths can't.
Re: Seems about right (Score:3)
Having a bit of weed for personal use isn't likely to lead to incarceration. Murder, assault, and robbery are far more common paths to prison for black people. They're significantly over represented in these crimes, also most of the victims being black.
It is a myth that prisons are full of black people who were caught with a joint. If it's cannabis then you'll find dealers and/or people convicted due to related crimes (e.g. robbery, assault).
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Having a bit of weed for personal use isn't likely to lead to incarceration.
Put that weed in a screen box and shake some keef out of it, and you could literally wind up doing life in Oklahoma. Yes, even for personal use, the law doesn't specify. No, I'm not going to that shithole either.
Re: Seems about right (Score:2)
Is that actually happening enough to make a difference to the topic?
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Ethan Couch (affluenza kid) killed four people. Went to a "facility" with daily horse rides. The punishment should be inversely proportional to the amount of money you have as it is now.
Re: Seems about right (Score:1)
Re: Seems about right (Score:2)
20 years? Even Florida, among the harshest, has a maximum of 15 years for possession. It ramps up when you're caught with enough to be dealing. Meth is similar, the threshold for a first degree felony being lower for meth.
I'd imagine most of the longer sentences are going to dealers.
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20 years? Even Florida, among the harshest, has a maximum of 15 years for possession.
Florida? Total fucking amateurs [norml.org]. Which is true in many senses, but incredibly, also when it comes to oppression.
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Re: Seems about right (Score:2)
How does that break out by term and type of prison (e.g. country, federal)?
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There's a plausible argument that the sentencing guidelines call for 65 years, not 20. Mitchell Epner went through the sentencing guidelines and laid out all the calculations here [substack.com] that get her to at least 43 points, which is the trigger for life. Since life isn't an option, the guidelines call for consecutive sentencing and maximum sentences.
That doesn't mean she'll get that, but the possibility is there. Prosecution is asking for 15 years, but she lied on the stand, and judges tend not to go lightly on def
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Well I am glad to read an analysis that put the estimated sentence much higher than other articles I have read. I don't think life in prison is too long for such an egregious offence, especially considering it was in the health care industry.
But if the prosecutors even thought life was a remote possibility, it seems unlikely they would only ask for 15 years. I didn't see any mention of precedent or of Davila's past sentencing history in your article though, so my guess is the analysis isn't very thorough.
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Funny how she didn't get married and have children till after her scam blew up and she was in danger of going to prison. I'm 99.999% certain that she views her children as her "get out of jail" card.
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She robbed rich people so she'll get a harsh sentence. Just like pharmabro Shkreli didn't get a harsh sentence for jacking up prices of essential medicine to obscene levels, he got a harsh sentence for defrauding the rich. THAT's what is unforgivable, THAT is the "true" crime.
And, of course, the crypto bros behind all the collapsing e-tulip exchanges will mostly get off with slightly-slapped wrists because they mostly rob poor people (anyone who isn't a billionaire, i.e. people who don't matter).
Unless,
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Skhreli's price hikes were immoral but not illegal. So a state under the rule of law could not send him to prison for that. If this fully applies to the USA is up for dispute, but in this case they stuck to their official principles.
Places like China or Russia might get a bit more creative in making up an offense, but do we want to be like them?
Tha fraud was clearly illegal though, a sentence for that was to be expected.
Conjugal visits? (Score:2)
Lizzie may want a family before itâ(TM)s too late.
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Federal parole was done away with for convictions that happen after November 1, 1987. She can earn up to 15% good behavior, so on a 15-year sentence, she'd have to serve at least 153 months, or 12.75 years.
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Prisons in poor countries have that. I mean, the killer of that girl in Aruba, I forget his name .. he even got married and had kids WHILE in prison.
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Private life and a having a family is considered a fundamental right in many countries, including the richer ones. Wikipedia lists for example Israel, Canada, and several European countries (Germany, Denmark, France, Spain, Czech Republic, Netherlands). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
US allow them but not in federal prisons, Australia not in all states, New Zealand and Ireland do not allow them. It could be the prohibition of conjugal visits was inherited from English rule and not changed consistently aft
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Hmm, I did not know that about state prisons. Are conjugal visits allowed for people who do serious crimes like homicide?
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Not a specialist, but nothing comes up regarding the kind of crime. I would speculate there are security rules excluding inmates that have shown violent behavior in jail (there are explicit references to such limitations in European countries, I would assume similar restrictions exist everywhere), so in practical terms many inmates jailed for violent crime (who often continue to be considered dangerous while in jail) would not be eligible.
Some facts I could find regarding US: "In the early 1990s, 17 states
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the killer of that girl in Aruba, I forget his name .. he even got married and had kids WHILE in prison.
I don't know why you would say it's a poor country thing. It's common to get married in prison in many rich countries. It's part of a clever inmate's strategy to increases the chances to be granted parole (because it's part of social reinsertion, under the assumption that married people will focus more on family and less on crime).
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I said it because I didn't know that it was common in developed countries too until after I googled it.
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I just found Britain tried to prevent a prisoner from getting married in 1980 and lost to court on the grounds of article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), the "right to get married and to found a family" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
So as far as I understand, a prisoner among the signatory members (entire European continent plus Turkey, South Caucasus countries, and Russia 1953-2022) wishing to get married and have children could in principle coerce their State (such as transferring
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There are no conjugal visits in Federal prison.
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Eh... she could also be going for a Darwin Award (of the waiting-it-out variety).
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Then again, she seems to already have procreated, so - no Darwin for her.
Re: Conjugal visits? (Score:1)
Needs more statistician... (Score:5, Insightful)
Compare to a garden variety murderer who is typically either the dumb and impulsive sort(most commonly some 3rd or 2nd degree); or who has a very specific target or set of targets but limited general-purpose interest in murder(more or less all the 1st degree ones who aren't serial killers or hitmen). She's more dangerous, at at least as morally problematic, as any of those. It's really unfortunate that neither the depravity nor the magnitude of risk posed by people willing to kill, injure, or defraud large numbers of people at arms length is more or less never properly evaluated in comparison to the people who are, to be sure, scary up close but inefficient and unambitious.
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She's no danger to the public? Does that bozo even know what she did? If that's no danger to the public, then what is?
She endangered more people than Charles Manson for fuck's sake!
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Oh please. She's small peanuts compared to the likes of Pfizer, Moderna, etc.
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He's probably correct: nobody is going to let her make any serious decisions again. Unless of course she goes into crypto.
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Her lawyer's bleating is the usual nonsense you'd expect in absence of any actually compelling reasons to show lenience to their client; but it exposes a common and very unfortunate problem: "Ms Holmes is no danger to the public" isn't something they'd try if this were a blue collar crime case of some sort
Well "no danger" Should be a compelling reason. The Purpose of sentencing and prisons in the first place is to remove dangers to the public. If the crime is non-violent and the danger to the public c
Re: Needs more statistician... (Score:3)
So what perception of justice would this send? The penalty for white collar crime is to go hone to your nice house and find some way to entertain yourself?
For a justice system to work, it must be viewed as being equitable and effective. Simply denying her the means of committing crime is not an adequate penalty for what she did. If it worked that way then we'd release a hijacker because he managed to lose both of his arms in the process, making him no longer a threat to aeroplanes.
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For a justice system to work, it must be viewed as being equitable and effective.
That's a good reason for justice overhaul, not a good reason to put this woman in prison. That's the sunk cost fallacy, except applied to human lives, which is really an indefensibly monstrous position.
Re: Needs more statistician... (Score:2)
Or we could simply apply the law?
Re: Needs more statistician... (Score:2)
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Christ you're a moron. "My client is no danger to the public" is something that almost every lawyer, even some representing murderers and rapists, will try to pull out of their ass at the sentencing hearing.
Balwani is the master-mind (Score:3, Informative)
"It has been far safer to steal large sums with a pen than small sums with a gun." -- Warren Buffett
Balwani is the real criminal master-mind here, and as long as he gets the book thrown at him, justice will be served. And considering that he isn't a white wealthy woman, things look especially dire. Yay.
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Balwani is the real criminal master-mind here, and as long as he gets the book thrown at him, justice will be served.
Holmes tried to use the "Balwani did it defense", and the jury did not buy it. She will be sentenced based on the crimes she was convicted on.
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Balwani is the real criminal master-mind here
The jury disagreed. This was a fundamental point, Holmes actually tried to throw Balwani under the bus. In business, unfortunately for the CEO the COO reports to them so unless you can prove fraud to the point where Balwani undertook actions that Holmes was completely unaware of, she retains accountability for the actions of her direct reports.
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Indeed. Holmes tried the "that nasty brown man made this innocent white woman do all those terrible things" defence and it did not work.
No danger to the public (Score:2)
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black turtle
Not in prison. Orange is the new black.
Re: No danger to the public (Score:2)
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The show's title referred to the fashion statement of the black clothing of hipsters. And once you go to prison, that's now changed to orange. It's not a reference to race AFAIK, since I can't figure out what race orange is (Trump notwithstanding).
She lied (Score:5, Insightful)
The court filings argued that Holmes had been made a "caricature to be mocked and vilified" by the media over the years, though she is a caring mother and friend.
The only "caricature" is the one she created by repeatedly lying about the product. She also stonewalled investors and the FDA by denying anyone access to the process to verify its claims. She put people's lives at risk through those lies.
The 15 years in jail will not deter anyone else from doing the same, but she should still be punished for her deliberate, calculated lies.
The Right Thing is What? (Score:2)
"Caring mother"??? (Score:5, Insightful)
though she is a caring mother and friend.
Yeah, she is such a great mother that she decided to get pregnant only AFTER she was at risk of going to prison and having to leave her child behind.
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Also a lying, manipulative "poor little rich girl", with an exaggerated sense of her own importance.
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Id like to see (Score:5, Insightful)
Though, I’m honestly not sure how much time she should spend in a cage. Is she an unrepentant lying manipulative egotistical fraud? Yes. Did she kill anyone? While she definitely could have. From what Ive read the answer is, surprisingly, no. Generally, I feel that physical prison should be reserved for physically dangerous people. She’s harmless now. Absolutely nobody is going to trust her with a business, ever again. Her reputation is (rightly) in the sewers and it’s never going to recover.
But there should be a massive financial penalty for what she did. A person shouldnt be able to pull off a crime like that and then dodge the consequences by running straight into the arms of an heir to a billion dollar empire. Hit them where it REALLY hurts - in the bank account.
Does she have that kind of money? (Score:2)
What's the point if she doesn't have that kind of money and nobody in their right mind will ever hire her for any job?
Attractiveness bias exception (Score:1)
Attractiveness bias exception [brzt] [dingding]
Movealong nothingtoseehere [warningbeep]
"Parent" by choice (Score:2)
Becoming, and remaining, pregnant after criminal proceedings began is a choice for someone like Holmes. She chose to be a parent after she tanked Theranos and criminal proceedings began. It should not mitigate any punishment for her Theranos-related crimes.
So ... (Score:3)
... more than twice as long [ojp.gov] as for rape?
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Dangerous? (Score:2)
Unless she's shown some contrition since the start of the trial I'd say she's pretty dangerous and likely to try another scam as soon as she can. Not sure if she's delusional or just a psychopath, but the whole defense of trying to blame it on the other company leadership and pretend like she was a patsy is just common criminal behavior. She's a con artist with a better resume and unless there's some indication that she realizes what she did was wrong I'm all in favor of throwing the book at her and keepi
Max (Score:1)
She needs 20 years. Like a leopard that doesn't change its spots, she'll be back to a new scam in no time and it's clear she doesn't care who she hurts.
Bring back the public stocks (Score:2)
Soulless bitch gets pregnant to avoid prison (Score:1)
Not likely over yet (Score:2)
She'll appeal her sentence to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. They'll then (again) try to involve the Theranos lab director's ability and mental capacity whiich they've tried to do previously. That'll stretch out the case. Also, she'll try a sympathy move for getting knocked up a second time, this one after she was convicted.
She's a game player and has secured another rich man to pay her way (and her attorney's way).
Good (Score:2)
I'm glad she is going to prison. Hopefully to solitary because she is high profile and where she will be in full shackles every time they let her out of that cell for that one hour a day. I hope she gets the absolute maximum amount of shackling possible by law too. That include a full face mask to prevent spitting and biting and a soft helmet.