Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Bryan Kohberger's Creepy Handwritten Prison Complaints RELEASED

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Brian Koberger is complaining from his cell about his lunch, and he says inmates are sexually harassing him. I go through every grievance BK has filed and why he's already asking for a transfer. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. B.K. hasn't been in prison for a month, and he's already filed grievances over food missing from his lunch, and he claims that fellow inmates were sexually harassing him. Now, I told you about these complaints last week when words started circulating that Coburger was complaining that inmates were keeping him up and harassing him by shouting nonstop through the vents of the prison at him. Well, after that, I filed a records request. asking for all of his complaints. I knew they'd be in writing. They're called kites.

Starting point is 00:01:04 And I got them. They're right here. And they're very revealing. BK is in J Block, all by himself in a cell. Many other inmates are housed in J Block in Idaho's maximum security institution too. But BK doesn't like it there. He was moved to J Block from a medical unit on July 29th. That medical unit may be where this video was taken.

Starting point is 00:01:26 It's a larger cell where Coburger was being assessed when he first. arrived. The prison won't vouch for the authenticity of the video just yet, but officials say they're investigating it, and if it's real, whoever recorded it is in big trouble and could be prosecuted. But back to the complaints, they started on July 27th when BK was in that medical unit. He wrote, I need access to the J-Pay system to access and complete an order drafted on and a full commissary menu. When attempting to access J-Pay, I am given an error that I am not set up. in the system in the C-block kiosk. May I be temporarily moved into the system to do so. Thank you for your assistance. Then a captain responded, Mr. Coburger, I spoke with you at your cell on 73025.

Starting point is 00:02:14 Getting set up in J-Pay can take a few days after moving to a new location. Corporal White is following up with J-Pay on your access. Then on July 30th, B.K. wrote two complaints. In the first, he actually complained about his lunch. Take a look. B.K. wrote, I did not receive my lunch on 730, 2025, despite inquiring. Although I understand the tear became hectic, it was never communicated to me that I would be unable to receive a new bag. The next shift was not aware of this either. I wish to access this. I have a right to this meal. Thank you. Then it says, I have tried to resolve this problem informally by speaking with staff several times. I suggest the following solution for the problem.

Starting point is 00:03:02 In the future, I wish to receive my lunch without exception. This could be accomplished by sending for the replacements as rapidly as possible. Now, that same day, there was another complaint where he requested a transfer. Again, it's difficult to read these. Brian Koberger's handwriting is not the greatest. This states, as I continue the SPI phase, I wish to discuss if I may be transferred to another ad seg settings such as B Block, not engaging in any of the recent flooding slash striking as well as being subject to minute by minute verbal threats and harassment. And that our other

Starting point is 00:03:42 bases, Unit 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. A staff member responded, Mr. Coburger, on any tier at IMSI, there are sometimes disruptions to operations such as residents flooding. This is actually where they clog up their toilets on purpose. On J2, it is a relatively rare occurrence. And J2 is generally a fairly calm and quieter tier. I do not think that B Block would be any better for you. Give it some time. So basically, the guy in the prison, the staffer is saying, we put you in a pretty good spot. Just give it some time. Get used to it. You will adjust. Then on July 31st,

Starting point is 00:04:28 and Coburger complained yet again about food missing from his meals. Coburger wrote, I have on several occasions not received all items of food on my tray. I addressed this during service and have yet to receive any replacements. In fact, the kitchen is not even called. The policy book confirms items missing, which are pointed out at the time of service, will be replaced. I wish to, without exception, receive these replacements.

Starting point is 00:04:56 It states, I have tried to solve this problem informally by addressing this issue with staff at the time of meal service. I suggest the following solution for the problems. I wish for the items to be called for and items replaced. When this occurs, the nutritional standard is not being upheld unless I receive my full tray. And he signed it. Then earlier this month, the prison created an incident report since Brian Koberger reported other inmates were sexually harassing him. The incident form states on August 3rd, 2025, resident Coburger D.O.C. number 163-214 submitted a concern form stating he has been subject to threats and harassment recently escalating to overt sexually violent threats slash statements. Lieutenant Mollant received the concern form on August 4th, 2025 and conducted an interview with Coburger in J-Block.

Starting point is 00:05:51 Coburger stated a resident that goes by Peru told him, I will do something from you from behind. I'm not going to go into detail, but it starts with a B and an F, those words. Coburger also stated an unknown resident from Tier 1 of J Block said the only rear end, but they didn't use that word that we'll be eating as coburgers. Coburger stated that Officer Signoria was present for the comment made by Peru. Due to Officer Signoria being on B-nights, an interview could not. be conducted to attempt to corroborate the allegation. Then on August 7, 2025, Officer Signoria submitted an information report outlining his involvement of the alleged incident. Officer Signoria recalls vulgar language being used and directed toward Coburger, but could not identify who said

Starting point is 00:06:38 what. The allegation is substantiated, but due to no aggressor being able to be positively identified in Coburger saying he feels safe to remain on Tier 2 in Jayblock, no further actions were taken. There's a reason crime fix is one of the top-ranked shows on YouTube right now, just like there's a reason why Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm. They're a firm with more than 1,000 attorneys, and that's because they win a lot. Morgan and Morgan has recovered more than $25 billion for more than $500,000. In the last few months, a client in Florida received $12 million after the insurance company offered just $350,000. In Pennsylvania, a client was awarded $26,000.

Starting point is 00:07:21 That was 40 times the insurer's $650,000 offer. Another client in Pennsylvania received $29 million after being offered only $500,000. Even if you think your case is not worth millions, why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? Morgan and Morgan makes it truly so easy. You can start a claim from your phone and just eight clicks. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com slash crime fix by clicking the link below or scanning that QR code that you see on your screen. So Coburger's allegation was substantiated that people were yelling these threats to him,

Starting point is 00:08:02 but we're going to talk about that in a little bit. Coburger was placed in long-term restrictive housing on July 29th in a cell by himself. He's in there 23 hours per day, but he's complained again more on that in just a little bit. So I want to bring in Mark Weaver. He has prosecuted high profile death penalty. cases and mark um wow brian coberger uh is really complaining about his lunch and sexual harassment i'm i'm not saying anybody should be sexually harassed i'm not saying that but um let's let's start with the lunch uh brian coberger i feel like thinks that this is a hotel this is prison maximum

Starting point is 00:08:47 security prison he is doing four consecutive life sentences for the slaughter, the horrific, unnecessary slaughter of Maddie Mogan, Kaleigh Gonzalez, and Ethan Chapin, and he's complaining about his lunch. Not particularly self-aware. Now, most murderers have some sort of emotional problem. It's unusual to be a murderer or even a mass murderer. But when he entered into a plea bargain so that the death penalty would be taken off the tape. table, perhaps he didn't realize what he was bargaining for, which is for the rest of his life, other people control his movements. Other people control what he eats. The inmates, who are other

Starting point is 00:09:34 people, control whether he sleeps or not, because we have reports that they are yelling into the vents on shifts. They've organized themselves to keep him from sleeping. This will go on, depending on his health for another 40 or 50 years. He seems to me to be somebody who's very into rules and regulations. He's citing the policy manual because the nutritional standard for his lunch is not being upheld. And he wants the food that was missing from his tray delivered immediately. And this seems kind of rich to me because this is a guy who's going through the policy. manual. And he's really stuck on rules. He broke the biggest rule on the planet. He murdered people.

Starting point is 00:10:25 So to me, it's very, it does not compute as somebody who is on the outside. So can you square that for me as somebody who's dealt with people who've committed heinous crimes for decades? Yeah, what a, what a strange circumstance where someone who's a PhD student doesn't understand what irony is, complaining about rules being allegedly broken after having, as you said, violated the most serious law we have. Now, I will say this, for better or worse, most states do have rules about how the prisons are run. You see this more in some states than in others, and prisoners are given certain rights under the Constitution. I don't have an opinion about whether or not the rules have been broken or what his remedy is. He's just not really, to use a term, reading the room to understand that to the extent

Starting point is 00:11:23 that anybody cares what he thinks, that he's abusing the notion that somehow some rules were bent. So there are rules in prison. You can't take somebody and, you know, put him in a freezer and make them freeze all night instead of sleep. There are basic rules about care, but sort of the notion of what kind of food you want and what cell block you're going to be in, which is another one of his requests, that is beyond his choice. I want to move on to the sexual harassment part of this. He is somebody who at Washington State University, we're now learning, was studying sexual burglary. That was his field of study. His cell phone revealed a massive number of searches for non-consensual sex pornography, pornography of women being forced into

Starting point is 00:12:15 sex acts against their will. And now he's complaining that these inmates are making these comments to him, which I'm not advocating sexual assault or sexual harassment. I'm not saying that at all. But to me, I look at these things and this to me seems like, well, this is just disgusting, gross prison stuff that like this is no there are no angels in this prison and this is the way these these guys talk it's gross i don't like it but it seems a little rich to me that somebody accused of a number of acts of sexual harassment on the washington state university campus and somebody who is viewed by professors in the criminology department at washington state University as a predator. People thought he was going to be a future rapist. This is in the police

Starting point is 00:13:12 reports. His colleagues at Washington State is now complaining about sexual harassment. Once again, a lot of irony here. It's troubling in some ways that he thinks he has this power over what he can do. In my career as a prosecutor and as an acting judge, I've interacted with hundreds of inmates of jails and prisons. There is a roughness. to these male prisons. There is a, it's crude. It's, it's debasing in many ways. And humor of a sexual nature and aggressive threats of a sexual nature are not uncommon. He's now finding that out because of his high profile, because he is a known quantity, he may not be the worst murderer in that prison. There may be people who committed more crimes than he did. But he is the most

Starting point is 00:14:05 notorious, which makes him an easy target for the group. I don't see this going away. Now, eventually, maybe it fades as the novelty of him, but being there, fades away. But prisoners have a hierarchy system. They have a reward and punishment system, and it's a little bit of survival of the fittest, a little bit of the Lord of the Flies, and he's at the very bottom of that hierarchy. It's really been something to read. His thinking, is something. Again, I am in no way, shape, or form defending comments of a vulgar sexual nature, but it's rich reading these complaints. We're going to be talking also with a former inmate, an ex-con, a prison consultant coming up. Mark Weaver, thank you so much.

Starting point is 00:14:55 Thank you. Now, on August 12th, the prison held a hearing on Brian Coburger's housing status. The record of the hearing shows that staff relied on evidence during the hearing that included BK's attitude toward authority, his classification, his disciplinary record, disruptive group involvement, documented behavior, and past, and willingness and ability to live with other residents. The reason for the hearing, Coburger was being transferred to administrative segregation for his own protection and for the safety of other inmates and staff. That's essentially solitary confinement. The document states that resident understands the logic of his placement in administrative segregation.

Starting point is 00:15:36 He originally wanted the protective custody route, but due to his exposure in the media, he sees that protective custody is not an option right now. He believes any harassment he has received from the other residents will die down once media coverage slows. He is hopeful that he can one day have recreation with others and live with others like him, just like another high-profile resident on J2 does. does. He wants to work and be productive eventually. He requested that he continue to have recreation alone and be escorted alone at this time. So the minute I got these documents, I said

Starting point is 00:16:14 to myself, I have to reach out to Larry Levine to see what he has to say about this. He is a prison consultant, founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants, and the author of the book, Prison Politics. So Larry, Brian Coburger is complaining. We already knew he was complaining. We talked about this last week. Now we have the kites. Those are those written grievance complaint forms. He's not getting his lunch when he wants it. He wants the replacement. And he says he's been sexually harassed. So let's start with the sexual harassment first. He says that a guy named Peru said, I want to do something to you from behind. kind. It's a sexual assault type act. And Brian Coburger complained about it. And so what say you? That's not sexual harassment because inmates talk like that all the time. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I've been in the shoe before in different places where people were shouting things back and forth. They're just doing that to get into his head. That's really, I mean, in the free world, that might be considered sexual harassment. But inside,

Starting point is 00:17:25 of prison nobody cares and he's just whining and finding reasons to complain about i don't know everything and the staff they're not going to care they're they're really not you could say whatever you want and this will go on forever they're getting in his head they know what it is they're doing so in my opinion too bad for him he killed four kids people want to screw with his head he's going to have to suck it up Angie so this is what I'm thinking too I mean the minute I read this I thought to myself this is almost like hazing he's the new kid on the block well peru or whomever is like he's like let's mess with this guy let's see how far we can push him let's like break him in and um you know nobody should be physically or sexually harmed or anything

Starting point is 00:18:19 but I'm thinking to myself that's what's going on here the minute I read that complaint. These people in the shoe, especially at that facility, they're doing forever, which means they're never getting out. They don't care. What kind of sanction? Let's say the institution decided they were going to punish them, these people that are harassing him allegedly. Let's say they were in general population, but they were living in a cell and they got out and all this stuff, they would put them in the shoe as a punishment. But these people are already living in the shoe. They're already doing forever. So it's not going to really matter, Angie. It's not going to matter at all. He's going to have, that's his new life. They're going to say this stuff

Starting point is 00:19:07 to him. Nobody is going to be able to get to him, although I hope they do. But really, no one is going to be able to get to him. He could call it sexual harassment. You're right. about the hazing he could call it whatever he wants but nobody is going to care and i mean absolutely nobody i'm sure there are people cheering whoever that is on and this guy who's saying this stuff to uh brian or to colberger i don't want to give him a first name this other inmates that's saying things to cole burger he knows exactly what he's doing and coleberger's probably whining and complaining and they're just feeding the whole thing you know what i mean Keeping it gone.

Starting point is 00:19:51 This sounds like, you know, prison life as usual. And when I say that, you know, as you said, they're in the shoe, if you will. They're in administrative segregation. So that means they all have their own cells. He's moved only when he's not around other inmates. He's in shackles when it happens, as are the other inmates. So, I mean, you're right. This is his new life.

Starting point is 00:20:14 This is what it's going to be like. And he's requested a transfer. And they were like, actually, you're like, he wants to be moved to another block and they said, no, you're actually in a pretty good block. You're in J block. So suck it up, Buttercup. He's in the shoe. I mean, this isn't like he's calling whoever booking.com and saying, gee, I want to get a transfer. I have clients that hire me. And sometimes I can get them into the facility they want. But I let people know I'm not your travel agent. I can follow policy. He's in a state prison. They only have one maximum prison in the state of Idaho, that prison. They only have one shoe. They don't have a special cell block for other people.

Starting point is 00:21:02 He's probably in there with death row people also. It's not really a big state. So where are they going to send him? Now, possibility. Let's look at Chris Watts. Remember when he got assaulted? He's doing forever also. somebody got to him he's in wisconsin now they sent him out of state but it doesn't really matter

Starting point is 00:21:24 angie where they send coleberger because wherever he goes he's going to get this hazing people are going to know who he is they're going to know he's there the cops will let the other inmates know that he's there so this is it he's kind of stuck with this forever Probably should have thought about that before he murdered four people for college kids. So this thing about not getting the food, I didn't get my lunch and my lunch was missing food when I did get it. Okay. Is that just kind of prison life? Okay. There is no set time, quote unquote. So let's say, remember, they got a lot of people to feed. So let's say they're going to feed the shoe between 10 and noon.

Starting point is 00:22:12 We'll just use lunch as an example. They can come any time they want. They don't have to tell him why. Maybe they're short staff. Maybe they were short food in the kitchen. It could have been any of a number of reasons. And there's always things that are missing from the menu. Now, if I'm not mistaken, this guy's a vegetarian or declaims that he is.

Starting point is 00:22:35 So maybe he's not getting all the vegetarian food that he feels that he's entitled to. But, you know, that old cliche, you've got nothing coming? He's got nothing coming. He's getting his food when everyone else is getting it. He's getting, they're giving Kohlberger what they have available. Nobody's making any special effort to give him anything extra. You know what? This isn't like it's his last meal and he wants a cord of like chocolate chip ice cream or something.

Starting point is 00:23:04 he's on a regular prison routine to get his food at whatever prescribed time the institution decides they're going to feed him this is just another attempt for him to whine moan and complain about his custody and that's it there's nothing that could be done he can file all the grievances that he wants and they'll just end up in the circular file because nobody cares yeah it's it's been interesting to read these. And basically, they've told him, yeah, okay, whatever. And he's talking about, well, I read the manual and, you know, the policy book. And it says the nutritional guidelines are X, Y, and Z. Well, there's a probably, I haven't read them, although I'm getting a lot of requests from news media to talk about this. I probably should get a copy of those guidelines through my

Starting point is 00:23:58 sources. I'm sure there's a little asterisk somewhere on that page that says, when available, at the staffs, whatever, they always give themselves an out. And he's trying to live his life and such by taking the guidelines seriously or taking the institutional manual seriously. That's kind of like an outline as far as this is what we should be doing. But they can alter that any time they want. So it's not real well. Yeah, it is valid, but there's a lot of wiggle room in there, Angie. They could do what they want. I mean, too bad. I lived it for 10 years. I was in 11 different facilities. And it was all federal. And they all had the same policies, although we ate at different times, wherever. But nothing was ever consistent. So again,

Starting point is 00:24:56 he's just going to have to suck it up. I mean, as far as the other inmates violating his rights, if he had read the book, I sent him, prison politics 101, this would teach him how to deal with other inmates, how to deal with problems, how to deal with staff members, how to manipulate staff members. He should try that. He should read the book. I don't know if he read it. I know he got it for sure. But he's supposedly a smart guy, they say. So maybe he should try some mental manipulation techniques instead of filing a grievance. I would.

Starting point is 00:25:37 He sure has a lot of time on his hands to think about it. Larry Levine, thank you so much. Sure thing, hon. So at this time, BK is in administrative segregation and he will be serving those four consecutive life sentences forever. That's it for this episode of crime fix. I'm Annette Levy. Thank you so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Bryan Kohberger's Creepy Handwritten Prison Complaints RELEASED

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