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The convicted murderer of four University of Idaho students has written to prison officials begging to be transferred to a different housing unit. Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old former Ph.D. criminology student who killed the students last fall, claims he is being harassed and threatened by other prisoners at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, where he is serving a life sentence.

In multiple handwritten complaints, Kohberger has asked to be moved from J Block — a high-risk housing unit for high-profile prisoners like Kohberger and others with serious safety concerns — to the quieter B Block.

Per notes obtained by People, Kohberger claimed he had been the target of “minute-by-minute” verbal harassment since arriving in J Block. “A couple of times people have specifically told me I would be raped and threatened, using the words ‘I’ll b— f— you’ from one and then from another: ‘The only a– we’ll be eating is Kohberger’s,’” Kohberger wrote. “The harassment began on the second day and has continued 24/7.”

Prison guards said they heard the inmates using “sexual terms” at Kohberger but that the details were unclear. In a separate grievance, Kohberger wrote that he wanted to be transferred to another form of administrative segregation, otherwise known as “ad-seg,” or protective housing where Kohberger would be able to avoid the other inmates who were threatening him. “Tier 2 of J Block is an environment that I wish to transfer from if possible,” Kohberger wrote in the note, which he asked to be shared with prison officials. “I request transfer to B Block immediately. I wish to speak with you soon.”

In his note, Kohberger also noted that he “has not been part of any form of disruption ‘flooding’ or ‘striking,’” two disciplinary behaviors in prison that can mean different things. Flooding, in this sense, often refers to inmates clogging sinks and toilets to create havoc, while striking can mean refusing to work, hitting or otherwise disrespecting someone. Kohberger, in his letter, is basically saying that he has avoided this kind of activity and that moving him is in the prison’s best interest, as well as his own. As of Wednesday afternoon, however, Kohberger’s status in J Block has not changed, according to prison records, and state officials have not publicly commented on a potential transfer.

Kohberger was also reportedly mocked behind bars by fellow inmates in county jail as he awaited his trial. In a video call to his mother, one inmate shouted, “you suck.” Another inmate told a guard that Kohberger was a “f—ing weirdo” and that he would have hit him except for the punishment he would have received for it. Kohberger’s notoriety is also sure to play a factor, as his social awkwardness was well-documented in court documents describing him as a “quiet and detached” individual with a “piercing stare” and a “limited awareness of social nuances.” As a result, the experts say, Kohberger could have very well been a target among other prisoners in an environment he never had to be previously.

“This is a guy who had a target on his back as soon as he walked in the prison,” one former prison consultant with knowledge of Kohberger’s case told the Daily Beast. “There are a lot of high-profile prisoners here, and when you commit a violent offense that ends in a death sentence, those are the guys that other inmates tend to take notice of, and not in a good way. They feel like they have a right to make your life miserable.”

Kohberger has gained attention in prison for other reasons, as well, most recently changing his appearance. Sources told PEOPLE that Kohberger has lost a lot of weight since the trial, an observation shared by at least one lawyer who had visited Kohberger in prison. He’s now a noticeably slimmer 205 pounds, down from the 225 or so he was when he first arrived in state prison.

And while Kohberger is used to being a subject of attention, it is believed his time will be harder at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution than it was in the Lewis County Jail, especially as he adjusts. It’s one of the state’s most famous prisons and is currently home to several other murderers, including Chad Daybell, who was just recently transferred to the state’s death row. There, the daily life of a prisoner — especially one that’s gained as much notoriety as Kohberger has — can be compared to the “wild, wild West,” said the source.

“The Jeffrey Dahmer case comes to mind, of how that guy had to endure all the name-calling and taunting for years until he was killed,” the source said of the serial killer who was killed by another inmate in 1994. “In my opinion, Bryan is going to be right in the same position.”