IOWA CITY, Iowa - The number of Iowa inmates to have died from COVID-19 is now seventeen.
Robert Taylor died Sunday night at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
He was 72-years-old and was serving a life sentence for 1st Degree Murder in Blackhawk County.
Iowa prisons experienced a systemwide COVID-19 outbreak in November which coincided with a statewide spike.
At that time, the union representing Iowa public workers called for a shutdown of prison admissions and transfers The outbreak has since subsided.
More than 4,400 inmates and 670 staff members have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic struck the U.S. in March of 2020. Two staff members in the prison system have died from the virus.
Taylor was incarcerated at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center and had been in the state's prison system for more than 40 years. His sentence began on January 25th, 1980.