COLUMBUS, Ohio – Three separate reviews are looking into the circumstance surrounding the suicide of Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro.
The man who pleaded guilty to imprisoning three women inside his home for a decade hanged himself with a bedsheet in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient Tuesday night.
Ohio’s prison director has ordered a review of Castro’s medical and mental health treatment and the circumstances surrounding his suicide behind bars and the State Highway Patrol is also investigating the incident.
Castro, 53, was serving a life sentence for holding Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight captive in his Cleveland home and repeatedly raping and torturing them.
The Ohio Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says state prison officials had the responsibility of ensuring Castro’s safety from himself and others and says the state must say whether Castro was properly screened for suicide risk.
After being admitted to prison on August 2, Castro was placed in protective custody, housed them in a single-occupancy cell with guards making security checks at staggered 30-minute intervals, Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Director Gary Mohr said.
The department’s review team, chaired by Managing Director of Organizational Development Ed Banks, will include experts from the department’s DRC’s legal, medical, mental health, security and operational divisions who are knowledgeable of policies and procedures but who were not directly involved with the incident, Mohr said. He says such reviews are standard in the wake of such an incident.
Mohr has requested the review be completed by the end of the month.
A mortality review has also begun to review medical and mental health care records to determine whether policies and procedures were followed, Mohr said.