James Holmes court case: Former inmate says Holmes told father, 'I'll beat this, I'll be fine'

Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes has spent the last two months in a special cell at the Arapahoe County Jail away from the general inmate population.

A former inmate tells FOX31 Denver's Justin Joseph that Holmes is being held in the jail's medical ward.

She knows because she says she was held there this weekend in a cell a few down from his.

"I was like is that him? She's like yeah that's him that's James Holmes but he had his head shaved."

Marie asked us not use her last name. She suffers from a medical condition and says last weekend she spent three days in a jail cell just a few feet away from Holmes.

She drew us a diagram of the medical ward. She claims Holmes, who is separated from the general population, is held in cell M1 just across from deputies. She was in cell M5, a few cells down.

Her first interaction with Holmes happened Saturday morning when her cell mate confronted him as he was taking a shower.

"She yelled out, 'you effin' baby killer. You effin' murderer.' He's like in the shower, and he's like 'that's me, that's me!"

Marie claims that same day she overheard Holmes on the pay phone.

"He was like 'hey dad' and he was talking to him about putting money on his books. He was like 'I'll get through this. I'll beat this. I'll be fine.'"

For dinner every night, Marie would walk by Holmes' cell where she says he has a larger bed than most, a window to the outside, checkers and dominoes in his cell and a picture on the wall with him in red hair taken days before the attack.

She says he also has a booking photo on the wall as well as newspaper clippings from the shooting.

"I don`t know how he got it but he has his booking photo and he has newspaper clippings of the case as if he is glorifying what he did," said Marie.

Marie saw Holmes nearly 10 times over the three days she was there. She says she's coming forward because she believes Holmes is not the subdued insane man he has portrayed himself to be.

"James Holmes is a very smart person who calculated this out, who knew what he did and is trying to play that role to get off."

We did talk to the Arapahoe County Sheriff. He can't comment because of the gag order but he confirms the medical ward houses both men and women.

Marie claims Holmes is treated like a "king inside here, with extra privileges." She says he gets extra TV time.

When Joseph asked her two specific questions: Do you think he is insane, she said there's no way. He also asked her, 'you say he made a confession,' and she said his words were "yes, I did it, I did it."