An Overlooked Source of Information in Missouri Prison Deaths: The Coroner

An overlooked source of information in Missouri prison deaths: the coroner

Unlike states such as New York that have medical boards to review deaths behind bars and mandate policy changes, coroners provide the only guarantee of outside scrutiny when someone dies in a Missouri prison (Juan Bernabeu for The Marshall Project).When Alan Lancaster died in January 2023 at South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Missouri, his family went looking for answers. The Missouri Department of Corrections recorded his death as an…

An Overlooked Source of Information in Missouri Prison Deaths: The Coroner

When corrections officials aren’t forthcoming with records, coroners can offer families the details needed to find closure or pursue accountability.