What does the ministry do with those who have been kissed by dementors?

Question

The ministry seems to use the Dementor's Kiss as a last and ultimate punishment for its criminals, like Sirius Black and to a certain extent, Barty Crouch Jr (even if his death was unsanctioned). If this method of "execution" is used, then, what happens to the body of the victim? I always wondered what happened to Crouch after he was kissed.

It is stated that a person still exists without a soul, possibly in a coma like state. What does the ministry do with these living but "empty shells"? Are they kept in a ward at St Mungos? (In which case that would use up space and money) Or do they kill the body? If they did the latter, why bot kill them in the first place instead of taking away their soul?

Answer 1

Well, as JKR said,

"The use of Dementors was always a mark of the underlying corruption of the Ministry, as Dumbledore constantly maintained."

Since nobody becomes corrupt just for the hell of it, it's fair to assume there was some self-interest for the Ministry in using Dementors. It does seem likely that it would have something to do with the bodies left behind. There is no clear info as to what was done with the bodies. If they didn't have magic, organ donation would probably be a good guess. However, they seem to be able to mend that stuff using spells and potions (Harry regrows his forearm bones in one of the books that way). Therefore, they are more likely to have used the bodies either as automatons for slave labor, or for experimenting in the effects of potentially deadly spells on the human body. Since they seem to have plenty of labor force already (house elves and goblins and such), as well as the ability to magically make inanimate objects work on their own, slave labor seems unlikely.

So, I would say, the answer is probably experimental magic.

Answer 2

The Dementor's Kiss drives a person into a persistent vegetative state. Given that the victim of this punishment would then require round-the-clock medical care this presumably would require them to be moved to the wizarding world's premier hospital, St Mungos.

This facility is known to have a locked ward (the Janus Thickey Ward) which would seem ideal for holding prisoners who've been permanently cursed.

The Janus Thickey Ward was a ward located in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and usually kept locked to prevent the patients from wandering about. The ward housed residents whose minds had been permanently been affected by spells - _{^{HP Wiki}}

In the specific case of Barty Crouch Jr, JKR's old website would seem to indicate that he died some time before the events of Deathly Hallows. There's no record of his place of death.

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Answer 3

Being no longer dangerous, their body would be turned over to relatives for their care, and while some might tend them at home, I imagine most would place them permanantly in St. Mongos.

Those without family would probably be sent straight there, as charity patients. There isn't any mention of patient payment at St. Mungos, and some in the Janus Thickey Ward seem to have no realtives, and means to pay.