An Unlamented Death in Cleveland

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland Scumbag, has apparently committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell. At least that’s the story they’re giving out.

Castro was also watched closely in Cuyahoga County Jail in the several weeks after his arrest and before his case was resolved by a guilty plea, with logs noting his activity every 10 minutes. He was taken off county jail suicide watch in early June after authorities determined he was not a suicide risk.

Doesn’t do much to increase my faith in the ‘authorities’, nor in the experts upon whom they rely.

Three possibilities:

• There were plenty of people, most prominently his fellow inmates or any guards who might have been related to one of his victims, who might have wanted to kill him.
• He had good reasons to kill himself – certainly he knew he was never going to get out. He might even, if he had a bit of humanity, have felt remorse and shame.

And a third possibility is a combo of the other two:

• The ‘authorities’ knew that he was suicidal and didn’t give a damn, taking him off suicide watch in the hope that he would go ahead and do it.

In any case, I’m not going to lose much sleep wondering which it is.