Lynne Klauer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Greensboro, which is representing federal prison officials, also couldn’t be reached to comment.

Beck, 47, is serving 13 years and nine months in the Federal Correctional Institute in Aliceville, Ala., after she pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of firearms in connection with a drug-trafficking crime. Beck has served six years and about four months of that sentence.

Beck was among 21 people who were indicted on charges of being part of a large-scale methamphetamine operation in Surry County.

According to court papers, Beck found a lump in her left breast in August or September 2017 while she was taking a shower at the Federal Correctional Institute in Aliceville. She was examined by a prison doctor in October 2017 and had a mammogram in December 2017.

It took eight months, however, before she got a biopsy, according to a lawsuit she filed in U.S. District Court in Greensboro. A cancer specialist with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center said in court papers that she should have had a biopsy within one to two months after she detected a lump.