Ariel Castro is confirmed dead after he was found hanging in his cell in central Ohio. Prison medical staff performed CPR before he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, central Ohio, JoEllen Smith, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman, said early Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

He was sentenced on Aug. 1 to life plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole for abducting three victims and keeping them imprisoned in the dungeon-like confines of his house, where they were starved, beaten and sexually assaulted for about a decade.

He was arrested shortly after the three women he held captive - Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32 - were freed from the house May 6 with assistance from neighbors who heard Berry's cries for help and came to her aid.

Preliminary autopsy reports done Wednesday morning showed that it was a suicide, and it showed the cause of death as hanging, said the coroner.

A Prison spokeswoman says Castro was checked every 30 minutes, but he was not on suicide watch.