Iowa prison inmate dies of COVID-19 complications

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa prison inmate serving a life sentence for murder has died from complications related to COVID-19 and multiple preexisting medical conditions. 

The Iowa Department of Corrections said in a news release that 81-year-old Phillip Benito Cuevas was in hospice care at the Iowa State Penitentiary when he died Saturday. 

Cuevas had been serving a life sentence for first-degree murder from Polk County. His sentence began in 1977.