Report Says Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro's Suicide Was 'Perhaps Inevitable'
The Associated Press reports that the man who kidnapped three women and imprisoned them in his Cleveland home for about a decade was likely harassed by guards during his time in prison and that he had created a "shrine-like arrangement" of family photos in his cell before his suicide. His prison journal revealed his frustration with the harassment.
In August, Castro was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years. He did not appear remorseful for his crimes and insisted that he's not a violent predator.
The consultants did not find the prison staff at fault for Castro's suicide, but they did recommend that Ohio's prison department adopt "enhanced mental health staff involvement with 'high profile' inmates," The Columbus Dispatch reports.
Guards falsified logs that documented the observation of Castro the day he committed suicide, according to a report the prison department released in October. They reportedly failed to check on him at least eight times.
But this did not contribute to Castro's death, the new report found, because guards checked on him minutes before he hanged himself.
The full report is embedded below: