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He may be behind bars now, but that doesn’t mean Bryan Kohberger has escaped notice. The convicted killer of four University of Idaho students has filed multiple handwritten complaints from behind bars, in which he said he’s being threatened by other inmates on a near-daily basis. Kohberger, who is 30 and was a Ph.D. student in criminology when he was arrested, has asked prison officials to move him from J Block, a wing of Idaho’s Maximum Security Institution (ISCI) for high-profile and high-risk inmates, including the state’s death row, to the quieter B Block, People has learned. In his letter, Kohberger said he was experiencing “minute-by-minute” verbal harassment and had been told in graphic terms that he will be sexually assaulted if he doesn’t leave.

“In the short 48 hours I have been on J Block, I have been and continue to experience a barrage of verbal abuse, which is ongoing while I am in my cell on a minute-by-minute basis,” Kohberger wrote, according to records obtained by PEOPLE. He said that he asked to be moved after “the first instance,” and then two days after being put in J Block, he experienced a second incident. Less than a week later, Kohberger wrote in another letter that he had been told by one inmate, “I’ll b— f— you” and by another, “The only a– we’ll be eating is Kohberger’s.” Guards admitted they had heard a lot of vulgarities hurled at Kohberger, though they did not remember the specific language used.

“As I continue the SPI phase, I wish to discuss if I may be transferred to another ad-seg setting,” he continued, using a colloquialism for “administrative segregation,” a housing designation intended to protect vulnerable inmates. “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 also asserted in the letter that he has not flooded his cell — a common form of inmate disciplinary protest that involves clogging sinks and toilets to flood a cell with water and cause damage — or “striked,” another protest technique in prison systems that can mean a range of things, from inmates refusing work to outbreaks of violence and other forms of insubordination. The state prison has not confirmed whether it will move him or not. As of Wednesday, Kohberger remained in J Block, according to records.

Warnings Made Reality

Kohberger was reportedly singled out for ridicule by other inmates while he was in jail as well. Former jailmates told PEOPLE in an interview last fall that Kohberger was repeatedly mocked by other inmates, some of them even as he spoke to his mother on video calls from the jail. At one point, one man called him a “f—ing weirdo” on video. That same man, Kohberger’s former cellmate, told people, that he would have assaulted him but feared the consequences.

His “awkward and scowling demeanor” and “staring eye contact and socially naive nature,” detailed in court documents in Kohberger’s case, have not likely improved in prison, making him “easy prey” to other inmates. “High-profile offenders nearly always have a target on their back,” a prison consultant said. “In Kohberger’s case, his social awkwardness makes him stick out like a sore thumb. In a year or two, I wouldn’t be surprised if some prisoners are waiting for Kohberger to turn his back.” Kohberger appears to have lost weight since his arrest two and a half years ago. In the time he’s been in custody, he’s been moved to Idaho’s most secure facility for its highest risk inmates, where he is kept in the same wing with death row inmate Chad Daybell. The threats against Kohberger in ISCI have led to comparisons to another mass murderer who was taunted while in prison: Jeffrey Dahmer, who died after 13 years in prison in 1994 after being punched and bashed in the head by an attacker.

Kohberger’s current situation in prison is “definitely leading in the direction of Jeffrey Dahmer,” a former prison consultant warned. He has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which he is expected to serve in ISCI, though prison officials have not commented on his security level. But his complaints show an inmate living with the stigma of his crime — and the prison population’s response to it. Whether Kohberger is moved or not remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Kohberger’s notoriety and reputation for being off-putting seem to have followed him to prison, and they may ensure he remains a target in the future.