Bryan Kohberger is drawing attention behind bars, with experts saying he has quickly earned a reputation as a “jailhouse Karen” after filing multiple complaints about his prison life less than a month into his sentence.
The 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole, plus an additional 10 years, for killing four University of Idaho students in a knife attack on Nov. 13, 2022. Three of the victims were asleep when Kohberger launched the 4 a.m. assault.
“Let’s put this delicately: According to the reporting, Kohberger seems to be turning out to be something of a jailhouse Karen,” said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor who has been following the case. “It doesn’t bode well for his longtime prognosis for getting along in that environment.”
According to multiple reports, Kohberger has told prison staff that fellow inmates are harassing him, complained about food quality, and requested a move to another wing of the Idaho Maximum Security Institute.
His behavior has not gone unnoticed by other prisoners, experts say.
“He would have been better off just keeping his mouth shut and taking it,” said Keith Rovere, a former prison minister and host of The Lighter Side of True Crime, in an interview with Fox News Digital. “They would have stopped harassing him after a while, but now that they know they’re getting a reaction from him—and he’s asking for a transfer—they’re going to ramp it up in ways that he can’t even imagine.”
Rovere added, “A snitch who is weak will never survive.”
Most recently, Kohberger, a vegan, filed a grievance saying he wasn’t being served proper meals.
“I have, on several occasions, not received all items of food on my tray,” he wrote, according to documents obtained by NewsNation. “I address this during service, and have yet to receive any replacements, in fact, the kitchen is not even called.”
He argued that missing food items violated prison policy and insisted, “The nutritional standard is not being upheld unless I receive my full tray.”
Kohberger began filing complaints almost immediately after his arrival in J Block, a wing designated for high-profile and high-risk prisoners that also houses death row inmates like Chad Daybell.
Within a week, he reported that another prisoner threatened him with explicit sexual remarks and claimed someone else warned, “The only a– we’ll be eating is Kohberger’s.”
Cameron Lindsay, a prison consultant, criticized Kohberger’s constant grievances.
“He’s a monster and a fool in one,” Lindsay told Fox News Digital. “No way in hell the Idaho Department of Correction capitulates and satisfies his request to be moved. My prediction is he’ll stay right where he is. His constitutional rights, particularly the Eighth Amendment, fail relevancy here because Kohberger is segregated from all other inmates, thus being reasonably protected from physical harm. If he had a lick of sense, he’d keep his mouth shut, his head down, and maybe over time his welcoming committee will lessen their verbal tirades against him.”
State prison officials have not yet commented.
