These Families Wanted to Lay Their Loved Ones to Rest. They Had to Bring Them Home From Prison First.

The delays that families experience — whether in getting information, remains or property back — often can be traced back to policy gaps, said Alycia Welch, associate director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Welch helped lead a 50-state review of prison death policies and found that many agencies don’t clearly outline when families should be notified, what information can be shared, or who is responsible for doing it. Without those details, she noted, the default is for agencies to withhold information.

“Families feel like they become the people that are being punished because their loved one was someone who was incarcerated,” she said. “They’re just trying to…honor their loved one.”