Ariel Castro victim reparations bill to get vote in Ohio

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, the three Cleveland women who escaped in May after about a decade of captivity, released a thank-you video to show their appreciation to all the people who have offered their support.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Ohio lawmakers are set to consider a bill that would provide Ariel Castro's three kidnapping victims at least $25,000 for each year they were held captive, plus other benefits.

The legislation would cover anyone held in "involuntary servitude" for at least eight years, but was tailored with Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus in mind. It was expected to go to a committee vote on Wednesday.

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A daring escape and a dramatic 911 call led to the rescue of three women who allegedly had been held captive for years inside a home in Cleveland, Ohio.

If it becomes law, the women would get between $225,000 and $275,000 each, free tuition and living expenses at a state college, and Medicaid coverage for life to compensate them for the time they spent locked away in Castro's Cleveland home before they were rescued in May.

Castro admitted repeatedly raping and beating the women — who were snatched off the street — and he was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison.

Last month, he was found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell. 

Newly released incident reports from prison guards — who allegedly skipped rounds and falsified log books — did not answer the question of whether Castro committed suicide or accidentally died because of auto-erotic asphyxiation, as suggested by prison officials.

Corrections officer Caleb Ackley wrote that while he was making rounds about 9:20 p.m., he saw Castro hanging from a cell window, called Officer Ryan Murphy for backup and helped him lift Castro's body.

Castro's "knees were slightly bent and his shorts were around his ankles," Ackley wrote.

He and Murphy ripped the sheet from the window and performed CPR until medics arrived, the reports said. Castro was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly before 11 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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