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Bryan Kohberger’s post-conviction life is officially a “perp-line” — prison prison-talk for a source of media attention. The 30-year-old convicted murderer of four University of Idaho students is making headlines again, though not for his case, but from inside prison. He’s in trouble there, he claims, from other inmates, who he says are threatening him on a daily basis.

Kohberger, a former Ph.D. criminology student, has filed a series of handwritten complaints that state that while in Idaho’s Maximum Security Institution, he has received multiple threats from fellow inmates.

He’s also filed multiple requests to be moved from the J Block — where high-profile prisoners and death row inmates are housed, to the quieter B Block. In the letter, Kohberger stated that he has been subject to “minute-by-minute” verbal abuse, writing that he has been the victim of “detailed and graphic descriptions of being sexually assaulted.”

The harassment, he stated in the letter, started within two days of being placed in J Block. Two days later, he filed another complaint after hearing one inmate say, “I’ll b— f— you” and another say, “The only a– we’ll be eating is Kohberger’s.” Kohberger has been permitted to have limited media calls and was able to speak with People Wednesday morning. Guards said they heard obscenities directed at Kohberger but could not recall the exact language.

“As I continue the SPI phase, I wish to discuss if I may be transferred to another ad-seg setting,” Kohberger wrote in the missive, using prison slang for “administrative segregation,” which is a protective housing status in which prison officials move prisoners who fear for their safety. “Tier 2 of J Block is an environment that I wish to transfer from if possible. I request transfer to B Block immediately. I wish to speak with you soon.”

Kohberger has been careful to point out in the letter that he has not been flooding or “striking,” which are disciplinary maneuvers often deployed by prisoners as a form of protest. Flooding is usually an act in which prisoners will pour soap and other items in toilets and sinks, creating water damage. “Striking” can take on various forms, including refusal to work, acts of violence, and other disruptive behaviors. State prison officials have not yet confirmed whether they will move Kohberger to B Block. As of Wednesday, Kohberger remained in J Block.

New Woes

Kohberger was in the news earlier this month when the Moscow District Court released photos from the crime scene in which he was charged with murdering the four students in their residence in November. Kohberger was on pre-trial release at the time and placed on house arrest after the murders, where he was confined to his family home in Pullman, Wash. and monitored by GPS until his arrest in December 2022 and the murder charges.

Kohberger’s woes in prison are hardly new. An earlier jail transcript obtained by People showed he was subjected to taunts and jeers, at times while he was on video calls speaking to his mother. One inmate referred to him as a “f—ing weirdo” and another said he would have gotten to Kohberger but that “this could get ugly for me,” and would “beat Kohberger to death.”

An incarcerated prison expert told People the unusual body language Kohberger has been documented to display in court documents, including his “piercing stare” and lack of social awareness, which he described as “creepy” has made him stand out all the more in prison. “High-profile offenders nearly always have a target on their back,” the prison consultant continued. “In Kohberger’s case, his personality makes him stand out even more.”

Observers say Kohberger has lost weight in the last two and a half years. He has been in state custody since December 2022, after being extradited from Washington. At least for now, he’s on the top security tier of Idaho’s most secure prison, a high-security facility that houses death row inmate Chad Daybell. There, his fellow criminals are among the most high-profile and dangerous in the state.

The treatment has prompted comparisons to other high-profile inmates like Jeffrey Dahmer, who was hounded for years behind bars before being killed by another prisoner in 1994. “Inmate-on-inmate harassment is epidemic in state prisons,” a different prison consultant told People. “The state has to do something because there is a real danger that a Jeffrey Dahmer scenario could play out in Kohberger’s case.”

For now, Kohberger is in J Block, where he is expected to die. State prison officials have declined to discuss whether his placement in the high-security wing is permanent or temporary, citing safety reasons. Kohberger, though, in his letter stated that as his sentence moves along, he is subject to “SPI phase,” or an administrative release to less secure housing as his sentence progresses. It’s unclear if that has changed.