The families of two Alabama prison inmates who died in the past few weeks are demanding answers from state authorities after they received their loved ones’ bodies bizarrely missing several of their major internal organs.

Both these cases raise questions about the treatment and mismanagement of the bodies of 74-year-old Charles Singleton and 43-year-old Brandon Dotson, who were inmates in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Singleton died more than two years ago at a hospital that typically provides care for older inmates. Dotson was found dead two months ago in his cell at Ventress Correctional Facility.

In Singleton’s case, the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s Department of Pathology conducted his autopsy before returning his remains, WPDE reported. Court documents note that his family members had his body sent to a funeral home where the funeral director told them it “would be difficult to prepare his body for viewing” since it was already in a “noticeable state of decomposition” and was suffering from “advanced skin slippage.”

Source: ‘Part of a Pattern’: Alabama Inmates’ Bodies Sent Back to Families Missing Internal Organs, Including Brain and Heart In Bizarre Cases