CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. — In court documents unsealed on Thursday in Carroll County, an inmate at the Westville Correctional Facility wrote a letter to the Carroll County Court explaining why he would not testify in the Richard Allen case.

Robert Baston said he feared for his life and of retaliation by prison employees if he testified about the abuse he claims Allen suffered at the hands of guards.

This comes after Baston wrote a letter to the Carroll County Clerk in April, claiming that Allen was being abused and mistreated by inmates and guards. At the time, Baston said that prison guards would call Allen a “kid killer” and inmates threatened Allen’s life, telling him to kill himself.

According to previous reports, Allen is accused of killing Libby German and Abby Williams in February 2017 in Delphi. He was moved to Westville in November 2022, where he remains. Indiana State Police announced his arrest in October 2022, more than five years after the killings.

In the letter, originally filed in early July but unsealed on Thursday, Baston said he was under a subpoena to appear as a witness in Allen’s trial. Baston’s cell was reportedly just above Allen’s in the Westville Correctional Facility’s restrictive housing unit.

Baston said he was a witness of abuse and mistreatment towards Allen by “corrupt sergeants” as well as officers, administrative staff and mental health professionals in the unit.

“Due to corruption and retaliation by Westville’s restrictive housing unit staff and officers, I had to refuse to appear in the above (mentioned) court hearing due to by safety and fear for my life,” the letter read.

Baston claims that security cameras will show that Sergeant Brandon Williams ordered an officer to place Baston’s bed in urine and in a cell without a toilet and running water. In the letter, Baston also claims that Williams slammed him to the floor and broke his foot and ankle, not allowing the nurse to treat his injuries.

The letter goes on to say that other officers punched him in the ribs and kneed him in the face. Baston claims that the nurse was once again “intimidated” to not treat his injuries. Baston also claimed that his legal documents, which reportedly included information about Allen’s abuse, were lost, taken and/or destroyed.

“So, until this court can protect me and other inmates at Westville’s restrictive housing unit and report the excessive use of force assaults, abuse, mistreatment, torture and retaliation from corrupt Indiana Department of Corrections staff/officers, then I do not feel safe to testify,” Baston said. “…Again, I have witnessed Richard M. Allen being abused and mistreated by Westville Correctional Facility/Westville Restrictive Housing Unit staff and officers that has (affected) his heatlh and mental health.”

According to a transport order, that was also unsealed on Thursday, deputies who were expected to take Baston to testify in the case were informed that he was refusing to exit his cell and was refusing to be transported to Carroll County to testify. Officials were advised by the court to “disregard any further efforts to retrieve” Baston from the Westville facility to testify.