BATON ROUGE — Two men have been arrested, accused in a vicious rape at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison that left the victim with a multiple broken ribs and a perforated colon that required surgery, officials say.
The 37-year-old victim, who is not named in court documents because he is the victim of a sex crime, was yanked from his bunk in an East Baton Rouge Parish Prison dormitory on June 19 by a group of inmates, arrest records show.
He was dragged into a dormitory dayroom and beaten and kicked while some inmates restrained him.
One inmate penetrated the victim with a broom handle while he was being held down, records show.
In addition to the perforated colon and broken ribs, the attack also left him with a collapsed lung and “numerous lacerations, contusions and trauma to the anal area,” arrest records said.
Letrell Baker, 20, is accused of being the person who attacked the victim with the broom handle. He has been booked with first-degree rape and second-degree battery in the crime, his arrest warrant said.
James Merritt, 22, was booked Saturday with the same crimes. He was in Parish Prison at the time of the rape, but was subsequently released. He is accused of holding down the victim, his arrest warrant said.
Baker has been in Parish Prison since Feb. 15, 2024, when he was arrested in an armed robbery during which two people were shot. The case has not yet gone to trial. Baker was in court in that case most recently in May.
Since he’s been in jail, Baker has also been booked with inciting to riot. An inmate disturbance in November required the assistance of a specially-trained response team to handle such events. Baker and another inmate were identified as having egged on the disturbance, which involved prisoners shaking the bars and “running around the dayroom to the shower area dancing and beating on the walls,” court record show.
Merritt is charged in several criminal cases occurring over the last two years. He’s accused of shooting a man in a robbery after meeting the man to sell him marijuana. He’s also accused of a 2025 Halloween kidnapping and vehicle theft in a case in which he was accused of stealing a car with a three-year-old outside of a Plank Road business. The victim and her older son saw what was happening and the older son was able to grab the vehicle and pull himself in through a window. He fought with the car thief and had guns pointed at him by two other men, but ultimately got back the vehicle and his brother, records show.
Merritt was arrested Saturday at his parents’ house. It’s not clear when he was released from Parish Prison.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
