Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro found hanged after one month in jail

[Heisenberg]

Source: Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro found hanged after one month in jail | World news | theguardian.com

The Ohio man who kidnapped three young women and repeatedly raped them in his home for nearly a decade was found hanging in his cell and is believed to have killed himself, a prison official said Wednesday.

Ariel Castro, 53, had started serving a life prison term after being sentenced last month to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea in one of the country's most sensational criminal cases in recent history.

Castro was found in his cell Tuesday night, JoEllen Smith, Ohio department of rehabilitation and correction spokeswoman, said early Wednesday. Prison medical staff performed CPR before he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

He had been in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but he was not on suicide watch, Smith said. She said suicide watch entails constant observation.

Castro told the judge at his sentencing he was suffering from a pornography addiction. "I'm not a monster. I'm sick," he said.

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. They escaped from Castro's home on 6 May, when Amanda Berry, one of the women, broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help.

"Help me," she said in an emergency phone call. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

The two other women were so scared of Castro that they held back even as police officers began to swarm the house. But quickly they realized they were free.

"You saved us! You saved us!" Michelle Knight told an officer as she leaped into his arms.

Castro was arrested that evening. He had fathered a child with Berry while she was in captivity; that girl was six years old when freed.

A judge rejected Castro's request to have visiting rights with his daughter.

Elation over the women's rescue soon turned to shock as details emerged about conditions of their captivity. Investigators said they were bound with chains, repeatedly raped and deprived of food and bathroom facilities. Knight told investigators she was beaten and starved several times to force her to miscarry.

Messages left for the women's lawyers were not immediately returned early Wednesday.

Castro's attorneys had tried unsuccessfully to have a psychological examination of him done at the jail where he was housed before he was turned over to state authorities following his conviction, his attorney, Jaye Schlachet, told the Associated Press early Wednesday. Schlachet said he could not immediately comment further.

In an interview last month after Castro's conviction, his attorneys said their client clearly fit the profile of sociopathic disorder and that they hoped researchers would study him for clues that could be used to stop other predators.

Knight was the only one of the three who appeared in court at Castro's sentencing.

"I spent 11 years in hell," she said. "Now your hell is just beginning."

Castro had been watched closely in jail in the several weeks after his arrest, with logs noting his activity every 10 minutes. He was taken off the suicide watch in early June after authorities determined he was not a risk.

What a fucking scumbag. Doesn't have the will to experience a fraction of what he put those innocent, strangers through for well over 10 years. Coward.

 

[Chris]

Was this the case where the neighbor made the AWESOME 911 call when one of the girls broke out?

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Pretty pathetic that after subjecting those women to things nobody should have to suffer for 10 years he cant serve a month in prison.

 

[Deezy]

Kind of found it funny that he pretty much left with one giant "FU" to everybody. He's dead now.

Now everyone can move on, unless it's a ruse and he escaped like a bad movie.

But he's dead, only justice would've been if he was left in the yard for an hour and guards decided it was break time.

 

[Slim]

Kind of found it funny that he pretty much left with one giant "FU" to everybody. He's dead now.

Now everyone can move on, unless it's a ruse and he escaped like a bad movie.

But he's dead, only justice would've been if he was left in the yard for an hour and guards decided it was break time.

Even though it would have been ruled "Cruel and Unusual punishment" for some strange reason.

 

[Wrestling with Shadows]

Even though it would have been ruled "Cruel and Unusual punishment" for some strange reason.

Strange, I was found that to be known as sweet justice... I wonder how many kiddie fiddlers get raped in prison and then everyone turns a blind eye...

 

[Deezy]

I always wondered why the people who do the worse crimes are the ones who get the most protection in jails, the rapists, the pedophiles, snitches and currupt bankers are put into different and safer parts of the jail and people who were busted with weed are the ones doing hard time.

I have a friend who was cellmates with a jail hardened lifer, but a guy who was a pedophile had his own cell in a completely closed off part of the prison.

 

[Wrestling with Shadows]

In England it's all to do with Human Rights, if the something happens to a Prisoner of the State then boom; there human rights are breached.

Probably the same in America, so to avoid being sued they protect them. Also this how shitty Human Right's act is, the EU is trying to make it illegal to give serial killers and other hideous criminals life imprisonment (with or without parole)... \o/

 

[Slim]

I just don't see the sense in protecting these guys. They are supposed to be getting punished for their crimes but instead... they wind up better off than most hard working people.

 

[John McHenry]

When I read it I read it as a big fuck you too. But I mean should we have expected more from this guy?

 

[Chris]

I just don't see the sense in protecting these guys. They are supposed to be getting punished for their crimes but instead... they wind up better off than most hard working people.

The system is broken yes, but the punishment was prison time, not getting raped and killed by prisoners. I get where you all are coming from, but I do see why it happens the way it does even if I don't agree.

 

[punk13]

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[Troy]

Good riddance. Saves the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars as well. Was lucky to walk away with life in prison but the ironic thing is if he was given the death penalty he wouldn't have been executed for decades anyway.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

I hope at least one guy got the chance to rape him.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

I just don't see the sense in protecting these guys. They are supposed to be getting punished for their crimes but instead... they wind up better off than most hard working people.

Its how the western worlds justice system works, protect the guilty. Protect the rights of those who violated other peoples rights. Ridiculous really.