January 31st 2024.
In December, the Dotson family took a major step in seeking justice for their loved one, Brandon Clay Dotson, by filing a federal lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections and other entities. The lawsuit alleges that upon receiving Dotson's body, it was severely decomposed and missing his heart. This disturbing revelation was later confirmed by CBS News in January, when they reported that another family had added a similar claim to the lawsuit. Charles Edward Singleton, who had also passed away while in an Alabama prison, was found to have all of his internal organs missing when his body was returned to his family in 2021.
Attorney Lauren Fariano, representing the Dotson family, emphasized to the media that these incidents point to a troubling pattern. And now, as reported by Andscape, another case has emerged with striking similarities. Kelvin Moore, a 43-year-old Black man, allegedly died of a fentanyl overdose while incarcerated at the Limestone Correctional Facility in Alabama. However, when his body was delivered to his mother in Mobile, the family mortician made a shocking discovery: all of Moore's organs had been removed. This was due to the fact that Moore's body had been sent to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for an autopsy, as is standard procedure for deaths in Alabama prisons.
According to Brendan Parent, a lawyer and Director of Transplant Ethics and Policy Research at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine, the practice of removing organs from deceased inmates without their or their family's consent is a moral and potentially legal failure. The prison system in Alabama is currently facing multiple federal lawsuits, including one by the Department of Justice, which alleges that the conditions in many of the state's facilities violate the constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The trial for these lawsuits is set for November 2024.
The living conditions in Alabama's Donaldson Correctional Facility were brought to the world's attention in August 2023, when a person incarcerated for murder managed to live stream on Facebook Live from inside the prison. This shed a critical light on the state's prison system, exposing the systemic issues that have been plaguing it for years. Fariano, a civil rights attorney based in Birmingham, is also investigating Moore's case and shared her thoughts with Andscape, stating, "It's a systematic abuse situation. UAB has been taking the organs of incarcerated people without family consent for years now, and we have a handful of families that have come forward who discovered that their loved ones were returned without their organs. But so many of these cases went completely unnoticed because families don't typically think they need to do a second autopsy. Many of them can't afford it, even if they wanted to."
Fariano also pointed out that Black families are at a higher risk of this happening to their loved ones, as they are overrepresented in Alabama's prison population. Despite making up only 27% of the state's population, Black people account for 56% of its prison population. Fariano also highlighted a law passed in 2021 that explicitly prohibits the removal of organs without consent, stating, "It was very, very clear - a medical examiner may not take an organ without family consent."
UAB released a statement, claiming that they were in compliance with the law and that autopsies are only conducted with consent or authorization. However, the family of Moore is not giving up their fight for justice, driven in part by the dying wish of Moore's father, Johnnie. Moore's mother, Agolia, shared that her husband knew something wasn't right about how their son's body had been returned to them. Agolia recalled her husband's words, "My husband was on his deathbed, but he said, 'Lo. There's something wrong about what happened to Kelvin. It's not right.' He said, 'Stick with it,' and we're going to stick with it."
This tragic and disturbing situation has sparked outrage and raised serious questions about the ethics and practices of Alabama's prison system. As the legal proceedings continue, the families of these deceased inmates are determined to seek justice and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.
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