According to a 2019 article in The Economist, local governments have been struggling to decide what to do with
unclaimed bodies. Each government is left to make its own decision. These decisions vary from region to region.
West Virginia has had an increase in the number of unclaimed bodies in recent years. A lot of that increase is due to the opioid epidemic. There is a state fund that was set aside to bury those individuals, but the fund has been depleted.
The city of Los Angeles handles unclaimed bodies differently. If a body is not claimed after a certain period, the city pays to have the body cremated. Cremation is typically cheaper than burial.
The Economist also notes that unclaimed bodies in North Carolina are cremated. After three years, the cremains are scattered in the ocean.
The poor and unclaimed in Seattle are cremated. The local government stores the cremains until a burial ceremony is held. Those services take place every other year.
Arizona has more unclaimed bodies per capita than any other place in the United States. It is not clear how the local government officials handle the bodies. But those working in the area have said that most of the unclaimed worked as migrant workers. They may have no local family to claim the remains.
Hart’s Island is still the burial place for the remains of destitute or unclaimed bodies in the New York area. Inmates from Rikers Island Prison dig the grave and bury the dead on Hart’s Island. New York’s Department of Corrections has jurisdiction over the area currently.
But some city officials want to transfer the domain to the New York Parks Department. The same city officials would like to make it easier for the public to visit Hart’s Island. There they can pay respect to the dead who are buried there.
