Bryan Kohberger has demanded a transfer inside the maximum security prison he now calls homefollowing harassment by fellow inmates.
The mass killer who broke into an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, and slaughtered four students in the dead of the night has filed multiple written complaints to prison officials since he was sent to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna less than a month ago.
In the first handwritten note, seen by People, the 30-year-old complained that ‘verbal threats/harassment’ and ‘recent flooding/striking’ – where inmates intentionally cause flooding in their cells – had made J block somewhere he didn’t wish to be.
‘Not engaging in any of the recent flooding/striking as well as being subject to minute-by-minute verbal threats/harassment and on that and other bases [sic] Unit 2 of J-Block is an environment that I wish to transfer from,’ he wrote.
Kohberger asked to be transferred out of J block’s restrictive housing unit to B block, where inmates are also held in single cells.
The request was filed on July 30 – just one day after he arrived on the block.
Kohberger’s request was brushed off by a prison official who responded by urging the new inmate to ‘give it some time’, People reported.
But, just days later, Kohberger filed another complaint – this time alleging he was the victim of sexual threats.
Bryan Kohberger is seen pacing inside his prison cell in video footage that leaked last week
In that note on August 4, the mass killer claimed one inmate told him ‘I’ll b*** f*** you’ while another said: ‘The only a** we’ll be eating is Kohberger’s.’
A prison guard confirmed he had overheard ‘vulgar language’ being directed toward Kohberger, according to an incident notification report seen by People.
The report, dated three days on from the alleged incident, concluded that Kohberger felt safe to remain on J block.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC)for comment.
This latest insight into Kohberger’s life behind bars comes after Daily Mail revealed last week that the former criminology student has not been having an easy time settling into his new home on J Block.
According to a law enforcement source, Kohberger – now known as inmate number 163214 – is being relentlessly tormented by his new jail-mates, who are shouting through the vents into his cell at all hours of the day.
‘It’s driving him crazy. The inmates are tormenting him at night and almost all hours of the day – taunting him through the vents in his cell,’ Chris McDonough, a retired homicide detective who now works for the Cold Case Foundation, told the Daily Mail.
‘They are literally getting up into the grate and yelling at him. The inmates are taking it in turns doing it. It’s relentless.’
An insider told McDonough that the inmates had actually joined forces to work together to target the mass killer, taking it in turns to shout through the air conditioning and heating vents connecting the cells.
Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle (left) and Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves (right)
Bryan Kohberger seen in a new mugshot after he was sentenced to life in prison for murder
The inmates’ antics have been rattling Kohberger so much that he has complained to prison guards inside the penitentiary, McDonough said.
‘He’s extremely annoyed and frustrated. He’s complaining to the authorities that he can’t sleep because of them,’ he said.
IDOC responded to the report, by downplaying Kohberger’s complaints of ‘what he considers taunting’ and pointing out it is normal behavior for inmates to communicate with each other inside prison.
‘We are aware of Kohberger’s complaints about what he considers taunting,’ the statement read.
‘Incarcerated individuals commonly communicate with each other in prison.
‘Bryan Kohberger is housed alone in a cell, and IDOC security staff maintain a safe and orderly environment for all individuals in our custody.’
Inmates are ‘driving Kohberger crazy’ by shouting through the vents at him
Prison officials also said they are investigating a possible leak inside IDOC after video began circulating online of Kohberger his cell.
In the leaked video, which the Daily Mail has verified is authentic, the killer is seen shining his shoes and carefully placing items on a grim wire shelf inside his cell.
His hands look red – which may be a result of the murderer’s rumored compulsive handwashing habit.
It is unclear exactly when and where the security video was taken.
Ada County Jail confirmed it was not filmed at its facility where Kohberger was housed since September 2024 while awaiting trial until his July 23 sentencing.
IDOC said staff were sent two emails – on July 23 and 25 – warning them about the prison policies around using technology and social media, including that it is prohibited to record and share security footage from inside the facility.
Kohberger was sent to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution after being sentenced to life in prison for the November 13, 2022, murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Bryan Kohberger is in solitary confinement in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution’
In the early hours of the morning, Kohberger broke into an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, and stabbed the four students to death.
Two other roommates – Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke – were also inside the home at the time but survived.
Prosecutors learned Kohberger took just 13 minutes to carry out his murderous rampage.
The net closed in on Kohberger after he left a brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath behind at the scene. DNA on the sheath came back a match to the criminology student, who was living just over the state border in Pullman, Washington, at the time.
Surveillance footage on nearby homes and businesses also captured his white Hyundai Elantra circling the home multiple times in the hour before the murders before speeding away from the scene.
Kohberger was arrested around six weeks later at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
After more than two years of pleading his innocence – and days away from the start of his capital murder trial – Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary last month, in a plea deal that saved him from the death penalty.
On July 23, he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole and he has waived his right to appeal.
