No, Eliza, of course you would not advocate cruelty or abuse - and I did not say you advocated such things. However, I do object to your attempt to ridicule what really are reasonable and normal correctional practices. Of course, people in institutions are fed diets chosen by dietitians - that's what dietitians do. And certainly you can't think it overly generous that an inmate be allowed one visitor a month - or do you? Or that they can exercise in the open air one hour a day. All these things seem quite ordinary and usual to me. If you do otherwise, you merely succeed in making angry and hateful criminals into angrier and more hateful criminals.

As for cruelty and abuse, they do run rampant in some correctional institutions that are not well-managed, so it is a concern and must not be ignored - have you heard of the Magdalene Laundries, for example? Cruelty can easily become the culture in a correctional institution, if it is ignored or tolerated.

-Joe-