A retired attorney has been accused of delivering drug-laced papers into the Houston Jail, sparking concerns about the safety and security of inmates. In a shocking turn of events, the Alabama Department of Corrections and staff members at Ventress Correctional Facility have failed to disclose the whereabouts of a deceased inmate’s missing heart for 50 days, according to court filings on behalf of his family. The family is now desperately trying to retrieve the organ before it completely deteriorates.
The inmate, Brandon Clay Dotson, died in the Alabama prison on November 21. However, his family was unable to claim his body for five days, during which they made a disturbing discovery. They noticed bruising on the back of his neck and excessive swelling across his head, raising questions about the circumstances of his death. In order to find answers, the family hired their own pathologist to conduct an autopsy. Shockingly, the autopsy revealed that the 43-year-old inmate’s heart was missing from his chest cavity.
The family is now filing a lawsuit, claiming that they are still unclear about how he died and never received a death certificate. Dotson had served 19 years of his 99-year sentence in prison for a burglary conviction and a parole violation at Barbour County’s Ventress Correctional Facility. Prior to his death, Dotson had allegedly informed prison staff about threats from another inmate. Despite this, he was moved from segregated housing to general population, putting him at risk of violence and exploitation.
The lawsuit accuses the prison staff of misconduct, stating that their actions were “tantamount to a death sentence” for Dotson. Defendants named in the lawsuit, including the Alabama Department of Corrections, the warden of the Ventress Correctional Facility, and the director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, were unable to provide any information about the whereabouts of Dotson’s heart during a phone conference.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The family believes that the school may have been a possible recipient of Dotson’s heart for educational purposes. The lawsuit references a history of the Alabama DOC providing “human organs and tissues” to medical students. However, the university denies any involvement in Dotson’s case.
The family is demanding various documents and information from the defendants, including the chain of command for handling Dotson’s body, authorization for his autopsy, his death certificate, autopsy report, video footage from around his cell, and any documentation of life-saving measures taken when he was found dead.
The family’s attorney has also requested the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences’ policies regarding the removal and retention of human organs post-autopsy. They are seeking a freeze on the practice of retaining organs without consent from the deceased’s family members.
Dotson’s family members have refrained from commenting on the case to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing legal process. The attorney representing the University of Alabama at Birmingham declined to comment as well.
This case highlights significant concerns about the treatment and handling of deceased inmates in the Alabama prison system. The missing heart raises questions about potential mishandling of remains and the need for proper protocols and transparency in such cases. The family’s lawsuit seeks answers and justice for their loved one, while also aiming to prevent similar incidents in the future.
