Triple-Amputee Vet Who Built A Border Wall Slowly Dying In Prison
An urgent message from him
Triple-amputee Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage is slowly dying in a federal prison. The lack of proper care for this war hero is shocking, egregious, and infuriating.
Below is an urgent message from Kolfage.
The official site for the movement to Free Brian Kolfage which I run is HERE. All communications from him will appear there. This article is also there. I’m Jeff Rainforth, his longtime friend and colleague. I was the videographer and news editor for Kolfage’s We Build the Wall. I’ll be back on the border soon (I just got Starlink for live videos) and will resume coverage on this page (Rainforth Report).
Kolfage was wrongfully imprisoned by the infamous SDNY Democrat operatives over being paid an approved salary for his part in getting miles of privately funded border wall built in Texas and New Mexico.
Kolfage was sentenced to 51 months by the same DOJ operation that targeted Trump. Stephen K. Bannon was pardoned by President Trump for these same charges. Following the pardon, Alvin Bragg charged Bannon through the state of New York.
Kolfage founded We Build the Wall to build border walls when the government would not because of Democratic Party obstruction.
I’ve worked with Brian since 2015, and started covering him in articles in 2012. He brought me on to We Build the Wall as the photographer and news editor. I filmed construction of our border wall from start to finish. Below is a short clip from when we were about a third of the way done.
Kolfage sent me the following message to share with the public. Because he is a triple-amputee veteran, and the “most severely wounded Airman to survive any war,” he requires special attention to his medical needs, which are not being provided in the prison.
From Kolfage:
I have to shit in a plastic pan that’s not even a bedpan. I can’t use the toilets because they are too unsafe and I have fallen off them. I have to urinate into a plastic jug too.
They have nothing for my body to stay physically healthy, they have never dealt with a triple amputee like myself. Because of their inability to care for me long-term, I’m now pre-diabetic, my livers are inflamed, my blood pressure is high, and my cholesterol is also now high. Everything they are doing to me is fucking me up internally and my organs are all having problems. The doctor here last week said I’m at a high risk for a heart attack now. This is 100% on them. I came in here healthy.
I was told I needed to see a hand surgeon now. They have ruined my last remaining limb. Like the government hasn’t taken enough of my body, they want my last remaining limb. The overuse of my hand here has destroyed it, my fingers get stuck and don’t bend. If my tendons rupture, my hand will never work again like it should. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!
The doctor here had me taken to Mayo Hospital a few months ago because I’m in the wrong wheelchair, and it’s causing my daily excruciating sciatic nerve pain. The Mayo doctor said I needed a certain wheelchair, and the FBOP physical therapist who came with me told them right there on the spot “We don’t have funds for that”. They won’t even let me use my VA insurance to get what I need. This pain is so excruciating, it feels like when I lost my limbs in Iraq. To this day, they haven’t done anything except get me a different wheelchair cushion.
I haven’t had a proper shower in over a year since I arrived, I use baby wipes. This is also because they do not have the appropriate shower accessibility for a triple amputee. This is unacceptable!
They haven’t given me the proper meds for my pain; they said it’s against their policy, so they feed me highly addictive Oxys instead, which still don’t work. However, they give these specific meds to other inmates who have drug problems. So they wanted me to lie and say I did have a problem just to get the correct medication, which I’m not going to say.
These people are not able to care for me and my internal health is going to shit. They are way out of their league. This shouldn’t be a death sentence on my life, but slowly it’s turning to that!
Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar has been fighting for Kolfage’s freedom from day one. Gosar made this statement to then-House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi in 2022.
Below is a 2022 drone video I took of the border wall we built. Subscribe to my YouTube for exclusive We Build the Wall footage with Kolfage and my latest work on the border.
The original article about Kolfage is also on my personal website. There are several Facebook photos and X videos that don’t work on Substack there.
Gosar’s epic speech in defense of Kolfage is a must read:
“Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to expose the shameful treatment of Iraq war veteran Brian Kolfage by the U.S. Government. Airman Kolfage lost three limbs defending our country in the Iraq war. While serving a second tour of duty in Iraq in 2004, a rocket shell exploded 25 feet from him. Due to his tenacity and determination, he shocked his doctors and left Walter Reed after only 11 months. He earned a Purple Heart and is the most wounded airman ever to have survived a war in the history of our country.
Brian Kolfage’s service to country did not end with his military valor. Incredibly, he ran a private organization that helped build 3 miles of border wall along the Rio Grande river, a place where construction is difficult due to the great potential for erosion.
So how do our corrupt elites treat this hero? They respond like they did to the many peaceful protesters on January 6, to the pro-life protesters facing over 10 years for trying to save the unborn, or to anyone who disagrees with their globalist, America-last agenda. They persecute them; they make their lives a living hell; they ruin them.
Below is a short video I took of Brian at the top of the wall after we had finished construction.
Rep. Gosar’s speech continued:
As our ruling elites were not happy that the illegal hordes could not continue to stream across the border, they activated their deep-state machinery and sent their secret police to arrest Airman Kolfage.
Fifteen Federal law enforcement goons dragged him out of his house without a wheelchair, subjecting him to utter humiliation and pain in front of his family. No thought whatsoever was given to his disabled status. And in prison, the VA refused him pain medications, without which he suffers unbearable pain.
Mr. Kolfage had worked tirelessly, 12 hours a day, for several years to get this 3-mile section of wall built. He ran and operated the organization that got it done.
For taking a salary, the Federal Government arrested him, saying he had no right to get paid anything because his website said any money raised would go to build the wall. In my view, he was part of getting the wall built. There was nothing wrong with him getting a salary and saying the money would be used to build the wall. Without him, it would not have been complete, and no real American would object to a man getting paid to devote himself to a selfless project like this one and succeeding.
Airman Kolfage was just intimidated into taking a plea deal by our third-world, kangaroo-court judicial system. This veteran and activist should be celebrated as a hero in so many ways. Instead, he will rot in a Federal prison. A greater injustice is hard to imagine. To his wife, Ashley, and two children, my heart goes out to them. I am praying for them all. Please know that I will continue to fight against the injustice done to her husband.”
Rep. Gosar posted this on X in 2023:
“Brian Kolfage is a hero and should be celebrated as one. Instead, he will rot in federal prison. We will never forget what they’ve done to him.”
In 2020, Rep. Gosar posted on Twitter (now X):
“More pardons are needed. I’ve expressed my support to @realDonaldTrump to pardon Rick Renzi, convicted by corrupt DOJ prosecutors who fabricated evidence, as well as anyone indicted with @WeBuildtheWall —a clear political persecution. Our DOJ is corrupt and inept.”
As you can see, what is happening to this hero is sickening, and cannot stand. I will be organizing a movement to get Kolfage freed from prison. It will most likely be in the same vein as the rallies at Mexican consulates I organized to get combat Marine vet, Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, freed from the Mexican prison after he was arrested for accidentally crossing the border with a firearm.
If anyone would like to get in touch with Kolfage, you can write him in prison. Do not disparage prison staff when writing. It was James C. Wills, the Assistant Director of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) and the Bureau of Prisons’ General Counsel, who denied Kolfage’s compassionate release.
If you reach out to the Bureau of Prisons, please be polite and factual so as not to hurt Brian’s case.
How to write Brian:
Only use black ink on white paper, printed or handwritten.
Send correspondence to:
Federal Medical Center Rochester
Brian Kolfage 26978-017
PO Box 4000
Rochester, MN. 55903
If you’d like to donate to his commissary account, go to this Federal Bureau of Prisons page and use Kolfage’s registry number, 26978017KOLFAGE, and follow the instructions.
Join the fight to get Brian Kolfage released from prison so he doesn’t die in there! He gave three limbs for our country; that’s more than enough!
The official site for the movement to get Kolfage freed is HERE. I’ll be heading it up and releasing all communications from Kolfage there. I started covering Kolfage in 2012 and have worked with him on almost all of his projects, including We Build the Wall, where I was the photographer and news editor. Join us to free Brian Kolfage!
While heading up the movement to free Brian, I will be filming what’s going on on the border. You can follow my work on the platforms below.
Follow me on Facebook HERE
Subscribe to my YouTube HERE
Follow me on X (Formerly Twitter) HERE
FREE BRIAN KOLFAGE!
This administration is so evil! They have weaponized the justice department at all levels against anyone who goes against what they want. I will send him some money and a word of encouragement. I wish I could do more.
Hi Jeff—I would like to contribute to Brian, but the BOP info was too complicated for me. Is there a gofundme account or givesendgo or some other way of helping him and his family? Thanks, Norma May