IOWA CITY, Iowa - A 13th Iowa inmate is dead from COVID-19.
A 58-year-old man, Dale Viers, was serving time at the Iowa State Penitentiary, and had been in prison for 25 years on a 1st Degree Kidnapping conviction.
He died early Sunday morning from COVID-19 and other preexisting conditions at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
The Iowa prison system experienced a systemwide outbreak of the virus in November, which coincided with a surge in general across the state.
Positive cases at state prisons have since subsided, with 91 reported early Tuesday morning.
Two staff members at Iowa prisons have died from COVID-19, one each at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women and the Clarinda Correctional Facility.
The union representing Iowa public workers has called for a shutdown of prison admissions and transfers several times over the reach of the virus into the prison system.