Ariel Castro Found Hanging In Prison Cell, Possibly Due To Stress From Living In Captivity

Ariel Castro, who imprisoned, raped, mentally and physically abused, tortured and impregnated Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus for over ten years was found hanging in his prison cell last night, and the cause of death has been alleged as suicide. He was being held in isolation, with prison guards checking on him every 10 minutes, and had been sentenced to life in prison, plus 1,000 years after he pleaded guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping, battery and rape.

He had served a month of his sentence.

I’m pretty sure that being in prison and having your freedom taken from you is awful. I’m sure not being able to see your friends and family, having all of your personal choice taken from you, being stripped of all your liberties and living in fear every day of what every new day could bring is a pretty terrible way to exist. I wonder if at any moment Castro felt anything close to what he subjected those three strong, brave, amazing women to. I wonder how he compared his own isolation and desperation after only one month to what he put those women through for over 10 years. He was not chained to a wall. He was not starved. He was not treated like an animal.

I can’t say his suicide was a good thing. I think aspects of it are “good” – housing a prisoner costs around 24,000 dollars a year in Ohio, maybe his death will start to give more closure to the three women, because he, in my opinion, should have suffered in prison for a very, very long time.

My thoughts are with Knight, DeJesus and Berry, who had a daughter after being raped by Castro. I hope these women are okay and that they continue healing, moving forward and living their lives, and are able to experience love, joy, hope and peace.

A monster killed himself. It was a cowardly act. And I can’t help thinking about what Michelle Knight said in her court statement:

“Days turned into nights, nights turned into days. Years turned into eternity. I knew nobody cared about me. He told me that my family didn’t care…

“I spent 11 years of hell. Now your hell is just beginning,”

 

(Image: Wikipedia)