The family of Kelvin Moore, a 43-year-old convict who died in July 2023 in the Limestone Correctional Facility, is looking for answers after his body was returned without internal organs. The event, as reported by ABC News 7, raises major issues about how deceased inmates are handled in Alabama’s prison system.
According to Andscape, Kelvin Moore died as a result of a fentanyl overdose. His body was transported to Birmingham University for an autopsy, a facility that has been performing post-mortem exams for the Alabama Department of Corrections since 2006. When Moore’s bones arrived in Mobile, the family’s mortician discovered something shocking: most of his internal organs were missing.
“This is the third case in the past two months where families have reported organs missing from their loved ones’ bodies while in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections,” reports ABC News. The alarming pattern has prompted Moore’s family to consider legal action, with Moore’s brother, Simone, expressing their determination to prevent such incidents from recurring.
Lauren Faraino, a civil rights attorney in Birmingham, is examining the matter, which she describes as a “systematic abuse situation.” According to Faraino, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been allegedly stealing organs from jailed people without their family’s permission for years.
“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,” Faraino said.
The family’s lawyer underlines the financial difficulties that many families experience, which prohibit them from obtaining second autopsies to investigate probable foul play. According to Faraino, many cases may have gone undiscovered as a result of these issues.
