(JNS.org) Jewish-American aid worker Alan Gross was released from Cuban prison after five years, major media outlets reported Wednesday morning. The United States secured Gross’s freedom in exchange for the release of three Cubans imprisoned in America. In exchange there will be renewed relations with Cuba and diplomatic and economic relations will be restored.

Gross, a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development who went to Cuba to help the Jewish community there access the Internet, received a 15-year prison sentence for what the Cuban government called “crimes against the state.” He marked his fifth year of incarceration on Dec. 3, and his health had deteriorated drastically, according to his family.

The Cuban prisoners exchanged for Gross are reportedly members of the so-called “Cuban Five,” a group of men sent by former Cuban president Fidel Castro to spy on the U.S. in south Florida. In 2001, they were convicted of conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents.