Each year, thousands of people die in U.S. prisons and jails. Over the last six months, The Marshall Project has heard from dozens of families across the country about their experiences bringing loved ones home after dying behind bars. In case after case, they told The Marshall Project they felt as if their loved ones remained under lock and key, even in death.
Families can face open-ended wait times while officials investigate how their loved ones died. Many states don't set deadlines for wrapping up the investigation, forcing families to live with uncertainty and compounding grief. In the worst cases, when deaths are sudden or unexpected, state policies make it difficult for families to get an outside opinion on what happened — limiting their ability to question the state's account or hold the facilities accountable for a possible wrongful death.
For Donald Prutting, one holdup after another slowed the release of his brother Kenneth's body.
The prison ordered an autopsy, adding two more weeks until the body could be sent to his family. Then the Bureau of Prisons required formal identification before release — a photograph and fingerprints — which took a little over a week, according to Prutting. By the time Kenneth's body was cleared to be sent to Connecticut, nearly three weeks had passed. A paperwork error left Kenneth's body sitting at Bradley International Airport for two days.
Aside from the initial notification call, Prutting said no one from the prison reached out. | |
