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Inmate serving life dies at Terre Haute federal prison

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WFIU/WTIU News
Belvado died Monday at the high-security prison.

A prisoner serving a life sentence for murder died in custody Monday afternoon at the Federal Correctional Complex-Terre Haute, U.S. officials said.

Corrections staff found Rodney Belvado, 41, unresponsive at the high-security federal penitentiary, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons reported Wednesday.

In a statement, the bureau said prison staff immediately started life-saving measures and summoned emergency medical services to the prison; where they subsequently pronounced Belvado dead. The bureau said no other incarcerated individuals were injured, nor was there any risk to the public.

Belvado arrived at the high-security prison in September 2017 to continue serving a life sentence for first-degree murder on an Arizona Indian reservation in 2004. He was working as an agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the time.

The statement did not include information about what caused the prisoner’s death, which was the second since January at the high-security prison and the third overall this year at the complex, which operates high-, medium- and low-security facilities on the same grounds.

An FBI spokesperson in Indianapolis confirmed receiving notice of Belvado’s death but declined to say if that agency was investigating.

"I can confirm the FBI was notified by the Bureau of Prisons regarding an inmate death at the federal correctional facility. No further information is available at this time," Chris Bavender said Wednesday.

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George Hale is a Multi-Media Journalist at Indiana Public Media. He previously worked as an Investigative Reporter for NPR’s northeast Texas member station KETR. Hale has reported from the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Jordan and Egypt.
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