Two men who died while imprisoned in Alabama lost more than their lives. When their bodies were returned to family members, they were missing their hearts and other organs, according to a federal lawsuit. The cases are "absolutely part of a pattern," says the attorney for one of the men's families, exposed after they suspected foul play in his death and ordered an independent autopsy.
"Defendants' outrageous and inexcusable mishandling of the deceased's body amounts to a reprehensible violation of human dignity and common decency," the lawsuit states, adding that "their appalling misconduct is nothing short of grave robbery and mutilation."
Dotson's family, while seeking information about what happened to his heart, discovered that other families had similar experiences, Faraino said.
The situation involving Singleton's body is mentioned in court documents filed by Dotson's family last week. In the documents, the inmate's daughter, Charlene Drake, writes that a funeral home told her that her father's body was brought to it "with no internal organs" after his death while incarcerated in 2021.
An initial hearing in federal court "provided no answers about the location of the heart" in Dotson's case.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham's "Not Involved In Research On Prisoner Corpses" T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by the shirt.
Previously: China is still harvesting organs from prisoners and covering it up
