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Internal DOC emails give little insight on how inmate destined for group home ended up dead miles away

6 hours 25 minutes 58 seconds ago Thursday, August 14 2025 Aug 14, 2025 August 14, 2025 3:47 PM August 14, 2025 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE — The family of Treylin Deville was told their loved one was being brought to a group home in Baton Rouge that could accommodate his mental health needs following his release from prison. 

Instead, they say he was dropped off at a bus station and later found lying in the middle of the road, unresponsive, 80 miles away.

Since the Department of Corrections wasn't answering any questions due to the active investigation, the WBRZ Investigative Unit requested any communications among DOC personnel that mentioned Treylin's name or inmate number.

We received about 10 emails.

The first email, dated July 16, is a communication between his social worker and an employee at the Louisiana chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, letting them know that he is coming up for release as soon as they have an address to send him to.

About a week later, on July 21, the social worker sends an email to several people stating that Treylin will be released on Wednesday, July 23, to "the below address," however, no address is listed.

It should be noted that there are several attachments mentioned in the emails that were not provided to us due to them containing inmate records; however, we've now asked for those attachments with the sensitive information redacted.

The next day, an employee who facilitates short-term housing for former inmates responds, saying she has no information about Treylin's pending release.

A follow-up email from the assistant mental health director at Elayn Hunt lists the address he is supposed to be released to as 10725 Molly Lea Drive.

As we know from the family and our own inquiry, Treylin never made it there. 

The next email is from Thursday, just before 1 p.m. The social worker checks in with what we assume is someone with the group home, asking if Treylin arrived. He says they've been receiving conflicting calls from the family.

Those conflicting calls were about how Treylin was dead, 80 miles away.

The last email from Friday gives us the most information — it's from the assistant director of nursing at Hunt letting everyone know Treylin died, as she states, "within 24 hours of his release".

It says he was "found in a different city than the approved discharge set up by mental health" and that he died of a heart attack. It informs staff that the captain in charge of transporting Treylin and other inmates has been reassigned.

We've submitted another PRR to try to get additional information. 

Treylin's autopsy results and cause of death have not been released. 

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