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(NewsNation) — Idaho's only maximum security prison could soon be home to Bryan Kohberger after he was given four consecutive life sentences in prison for the killings of four University of Idaho students in 2022.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin earlier this month in a deal that would take the death penalty off the table.
The Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI) was opened in 1989 in Kuna, Idaho to confine Idaho's most violent offenders.
NewsNation got an exclusive look inside the prison this week. You can see photos below.
The outdoor area at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
An outdoor cage at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
An outdoor cage at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
Cells inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
An indoor cage at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
Cells inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution
FILE - The execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution is shown as Security Institution Warden Randy Blades look on in Boise, Idaho on Oct. 20, 2011. An Idaho man scheduled to be executed at the end of the month is asking a federal court to put his lethal injection on hold and order a new clemency hearing because the previous one resulted in a tie. Thomas Eugene Creech is Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate. (AP Photo/Jessie L. Bonner, File)
Named one of the 15 worst prisons in America by Security Journal Americas in 2024, the prison joined other notorious facilities like Attica Correctional Facility in New York, San Quentin in California, and Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as “The Farm.”
IMSI has been criticized for harsh treatment and inadequate mental healthcare, which, combined with the psychological distress from extensive solitary confinement, can lead to a cycle of worsening mental health.
Kohberger will be joining some of the state's notorious criminal offenders:
Chad Daybell
Chad Daybell sits during a court hearing, Aug. 4, 2020, in St. Anthony, Idaho. The trial of Daybell, who is charged with the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend's two youngest children, is set to begin in Idaho, serving as a second act in a bizarre case that has drawn worldwide attention and already resulted in a life sentence for the kids' mother. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)Chad Daybell was sentenced to death and sent to the prison after he was found guilty of murdering his ex-wife and the children of his current wife, Lori Vallow.
Daybell, 55, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit murder and grand theft in connection with the 2019 deaths of Tammy Daybell, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.
Gerald Pizzuto Jr.
Gerald Pizzuto Jr. has spent more than 30 years on death row at the prison for the July 1985 killings of 58-year-old Alberta Herndon and her 37-year-old nephew, Delbert Herndon. Pizzuto, who has terminal cancer and other illnesses, had his execution stayed in 2021 after he was granted a clemency hearing, according to Boise State Public Radio.
As of 2025, Pizzuto is still on death row.
Thomas Eugene Creech
FILE - This image provided by the Idaho Department of Correction shows Thomas Eugene Creech, Jan. 9, 2009. (Idaho Department of Correction via AP, File)Thomas Eugene Creech was convicted of two murders in 1974 and sentenced to death. Creech has also been suspected of murdering several others, according to CBS News.
While sentenced at IMSI, Creech's execution was halted after eight failed attempts at lethal injection because the medical team could not find a vein. He remains on death row as of 2025.
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