PORT ALLEN — A fourth inmate at the West Baton Rouge Detention Center has died since March 2025. The latest inmate was found Sunday, Sept. 7th around 11 a.m., unresponsive in a lockdown cell. He has been identified as 26-year-old Nicholas Henderson. Henderson had recently been charged with murder, accused of providing ‘mojo’ to an inmate on August 13th. That inmate died from those drugs, WBRSO said.
West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s deputies responded to Henderson unresponsive in his cell Sunday morning, rendered first-aid but he did not survive. An autopsy will have to determine the cause and manner of death.
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WBRSO reports that Henderson was involved in a physical fight on Friday, Sept. 5th, in which he’s accused of attacking another inmate. The victim in that fight remains hospitalized. Following the fight, Henderson was charged with second-degree battery and relocated from the general population to a lockdown isolation cell with another inmate.
WBRSO says that Sunday morning, Henderson was given “his breakfast tray and showed no signs of medical distress.”
A criminal investigation is now underway into the latest inmate death, but this is now the fourth inmate to die since March 2025.
“Any loss of life in our custody is taken seriously. We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation into this incident and continuing our efforts to enhance security measures inside our facility,” said WBR Sheriff Jeff Bergeron in a news release.
Past inmate deaths
On August 13, three inmates were found unresponsive. Two of them had to be hospitalized while the third inmate, 30-year-old Jeremy Paul died. Nicholas Henderson, the same inmate who was found dead in his cell today, was charged with Paul’s murder, accused of providing the drugs that led up to his death.
In May 2025, Unterio Lewis, another WBRSO inmate, died of “combined drug toxicity.” Specifically, the WBR coroner said Lewis died from a mixture of cocaine and fentanyl. An internal affairs investigation linked the death to deputy errors, resulting in two suspensions, one for improper searches and another for failing to conduct the required rounds.
And in March 2025, after a “medical crisis” with 38-year-old Ryan Moreau, he was transported to a hospital, where he remained in intensive care until he died days later. Two inmates were charged with obstruction of justice in Moreau’s death, and a facility-wide shakedown was conducted on March 7.
Moreau’s father spoke to UWK later in March, saying he still had questions about his son’s death.
“All they told me from the beginning was they found Ryan unresponsive in his cell and then they got him revived and called the ambulance, which brought him to Our Lady of the Lake in East Baton Rouge,” Michael Moreau said back in March. He also said that he didn’t learn about the incident with the two other inmates until reading it in UWK‘s story.
WBRSO has said they have had numerous criminal and internal investigations after the past three inmate deaths. An internal affairs investigation happens when deputies are suspected of wrongdoing, which was the case in the May death of Unterio Lewis.
Following all the inmate deaths, WBRSO says they have conducted multiple facility-wide shakedowns.
“These operations have resulted in several arrests and the removal of contraband,” WBRSO said in a news release. “Additionally, Sheriff Bergeron has assigned an investigative team to the facility and directed additional deputies from the Uniform Patrol Division to work extra shifts in support of correctional staff.”
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