Family alleges son's body returned without heart after death in Alabama prison

In a recent development, a new case has emerged in the US, where a family asserted that their son’s organs mysteriously vanished following his incarceration by the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), according to court documents scrutinized by Business Insider. Last year, the family of Brandon Clay Dotson initiated legal action against the Alabama Department of Corrections after discovering that their son’s body was returned without a heart. Dotson passed away inside the Ventress Correctional Facility in November, as detailed in the lawsuit. Dotson’s family received his remains approximately five days after his demise, described as “severely decomposed” in the lawsuit. Subsequently, a second autopsy revealed the alarming revelation that Mr. Dotson’s heart was absent from his chest cavity. The lawsuit contends that the Alabama Department of Corrections, or an associated party involved in autopsy or body transport, removed and retained Dotson’s heart without proper authorisation from his next of kin. As the Dotson family grapples with the open case, a new family has come forward with similar claims. Court documents indicate that Charlene Drake, an Alabama resident, has testified that her father’s body was also returned with missing organs. Drake’s father, Charles Edward Singleton, passed away at the age of 74 while in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections in November 2021. Drake’s testimony recounts that the funeral home informed the family, about a week after Singleton’s death, that there were no internal organs in the body, and even the brain had been removed. Despite multiple attempts to seek clarification, neither the Alabama Department of Corrections nor the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where autopsies were conducted, has provided a satisfactory explanation. UAB declined to comment on the “pending litigation.” Attorney Lauren Faraino, representing Dotson’s family, has not responded to requests for comment. However, in correspondence with The Associated Press, Faraino emphasised that the Singleton case underscores a disturbing pattern, adding to the growing concerns surrounding organ handling in state prison deaths.