Castro was convicted last month of kidnapping and raping three women in his Cleveland, Ohio home over the course of many years. He was sentenced to a life behind bars but was found dead in his cell Tuesday.

BY CORINNE LESTCH / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS—-

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TONY DEJAK/AP

Ariel Castro was convicted of sexually assaulting and holding three women captive for years in his Cleveland, Ohio home. His lifeless body was discovered in his cell Tuesday.

He stole a decade of their lives — and finally he took their justice.

Ariel Castro, the Ohio monster sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years for kidnapping three young women and keeping them as sex slaves in his Cleveland home, was found hanging in his prison cell Tuesday, correction officials said.

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Castro’s lifeless body was discovered in his cell in the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, about 9:20 p.m., authorities said. It was not immediately clear Tuesday night what the abominable inmate used to dodge punishment — and deprive his victims of the justice that his recent conviction had provided.

The sexual predator was housed in a single cell in protective custody, where prison authorities were required to check on him every 30 minutes, Ohio Department of Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said .

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Castro, 53, was not on a suicide watch, The Associated Press reported.

Prison medical staff tried to resuscitate him, but his evil days ended at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center at 10:52 p.m.

Castro was sentenced on Aug. 1 for abducting Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus off Cleveland streets and holding them as sex prisoners for more than a decade. He fathered a child with Berry, a 6-year-old girl named Jocelyn. They escaped on May 6 when Berry managed to break free.

Prosecutors had spared the three women the pain of having to testify at trial by taking the death penalty off the table for the Cleveland monster, allowing him to plead guilty to 937 criminal counts. Judge Michael Russo handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole plus 1,000 years

In the end, he served slightly less than four months in custody.

Ohio State Police and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction are investigating the death. “A thorough review of this incident is underway,” said Smith.

There was no immediate comment Tuesday night from any of the three victims. Knight, 32, who was impregnated by Castro five times and starved and beaten until she miscarried each pregnancy, was the only one who spoke at his sentencing.

“I spent 11 years in hell, and now your hell is just beginning,” she said. “I will overcome all this that has happened, but you will face hell for eternity.”