A day after the monster who held three women as sex slaves for over a decade hanged himself in prison, the prosecutor in charge of the case blasted the fiend as a coward.
"This man couldn't take, for even a month, a small portion of what he had dished out for more than a decade," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said of Ariel Castro, who killed himself in his cell in a prison near Columbus yesterday.
Castro, 53, was a month into his life sentence when he managed to hang himself with a bedsheet while in protective custody.
He abducted and then imprisoned three women — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight — in his Cleveleland house, keeping them chained to a wall and raping them repeatedly in the years before their rescued May 6.
While those in the community said Castro "took the coward's way out," his psychologist told a local news station Castro didn't appear suicidal when they last spoke.
It was "Possible that he had suicidal thoughts before and just covered them. I would think it's more likely this was triggered by some stressful events," Dr. Phillip Resnick told Action 19 News. Resnick interviewed Castro before he pleaded guilty to guilty to 937 counts, including kidnapping and rape, in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
"I'm not a monster. I'm sick," Castro told the judge at sentencing.
Ohio's prison system is reviewing how Castro managed to kill himself in protective custody, which is supposed to involve checks every 30 minutes.
One review will look at the suicide — normal in such cases — while the other is an examination of Castro'scircumstances, and whether he received the proper medical and mental health care leading up to his suicide.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called for an investigation into Castro's death as well as the question of whether all inmates are getting the mental health treatment they need.
"As horrifying as Mr. Castro's crimes may be, the state has a responsibility to ensure his safety from himself and others," ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link said in a statement.
was a month into his life sentence for holding three women captive in his home for a decade when he committed suicide Tuesday night. Protective custody involves checks every 30 minutes.
Residents in the westside Cleveland neighborhood where three women were secretly imprisoned reacted with scorn and grim satisfaction Wednesday to Castro's death.
"He took the coward's way out," said Elsie Cintron, who lived up the street from the former school bus driver. "We're sad to hear that he's dead, but at the same time, we're happy he's gone, and now we know he can't ask for an appeal or try for one if he's acting like he's crazy."
Castro's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have a psychological examination of Castro done in jail before he was turned over to state authorities, his attorney, Jaye Schlachet, said Wednesday.
Michael Casey, director of the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy outside Chicago, said a notorious figure like Castro would have been more apt to be harmed by other inmates, citing the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, the Milwaukee cannibal who was slain behind bars in 1994.
He said that given the way Castro managed to hide his crimes for so long, he probably would have been able to conceal any suicidal tendencies from his jailers.
The prison where Castro hanged himself, a so-called reception center for newly arrived inmates, is crowded with nearly twice the 900 prisoners it was meant to hold, according to state figures.
Stress is high and assaults are up at the prison, said Tim Shafer, an official with the guards' union, who added: "Just like out in the public, suicides happen, and you just can't prevent every one of them."
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