The family of an Alabama man who died in a state prison is suing the state alleging the state returned the man’s body badly decomposed and without a heart.

Brandon Clay Dotson, 43, died at the Ventress prison in Barbour County on November 16.

Dotson’s family alleges in the federal lawsuit that his body was not released to them until November 21 and after a routine state autopsy which is typically performed on any state inmate who dies in cusody.

The family said when his body was returned it was so badly decomposed that they could not have an open casket funeral.

Dotson’s family hired a private pathologist to perform a separate autopsy and that pathologist discovered his heart was missing.

The family wants his heart returned and answers to what exactly happened to him.