(NewsNation) — The body of an Alabama inmate who died while in prison was returned to his family with a missing organ. Now, the lawyer representing his family says “multiple families” have gone through the same thing.

“People who are dying in prison custody [are] being treated in a way that no other person in society is being treated, they are being treated less than, and the wardens are giving these permissions that they don’t actually have the authority to give,” said attorney Lauren Faraino.

The family of Brandon Clay Dotson, who died in a state prison in November 2023, filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Alabama Department of Corrections and others saying his body was decomposing and his heart was missing when his remains were returned to them.

In a court filing for the case last week, the daughter of Charles Edward Singleton, another deceased inmate, said her father’s body was missing all of his internal organs when it was returned in 2021.

Faraino explained that the prison wardens don’t have the authority to order autopsies and yet they have an autopsy agreement with the University of Alabama as well as autopsies from previous years that indicate the warden gave permission for it to be conducted.

“We don’t have much clarity about anything. There was a hearing that we had to try to determine where is this heart, and I think all of us left that hearing more confused than we were when we went in,” Farainon said.

“Ultimately, we just want the university to have to ask for consent from the family,” Farainon said. “We all support medical research. And if the family says yes, then I have no problem with the organs being taken. But right now the law is not being followed and the university is taking advantage of a vulnerable population.”