Resignation letter of Nowata County, Oklahoma sheriff Terry Barnett, after a judge ordered her to reopen an unsafe jail with near-lethal carbon monoxide and exposed wiring.

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[–]Farseli 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's the just-world phenomenon. People tend to believe that the world is just and people get what they deserve. They want to believe it is fair, because a world that isn't fair is scary.

In that mindset, poor conditions for inmates are what they deserve because if they were good people they wouldn't be in prison. It doesn't matter if what they did (if anything) actually deserves prison time. They were sent to prison so they deserve it.

Another example: for a culture that almost universally considers rape to be bad, people are more than willing to joke or make light of prison rape. Bad people go to prison, so if they experience prison rape it is okay. Good people won't ever experience that because good people never end up in prison.