(AP) -- An autopsy says a North Carolina inmate cited dozens of times for trying to hurt himself died because his intestines became blocked.
The state medical examiner's office reports that 40-year-old Robert P. Peyton swallowed six surgical sponges and a metal fragment. The autopsy found also recovered Styrofoam and a metal fragment in Peyton's urethra, the tube which carries urine out of the body. Peyton died March 27 at Central Prison in Raleigh, where he had been cited by prison staff at least 25 times for infractions related to attempts to harm himself.
He was in solitary confinement when he died. Peyton was sentenced in Cabarrus County in 2010 to a 10-year-prison term following a string of larcenies and breaking and entering charges.