They get letters

"A society should be judged not be how it treats its outstanding citizens, but by how it treats its criminals."

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was … sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' "
— Matthew 25:41-43

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
— United States Constitution, Amendment VIII

The (Del.) News Journal gets letters:

I see a lot of talk about how Delaware is a horrid state for what it did, or didn't do, to its prisoners. I cannot believe you are in such an uproar over the death of a felon.

I am not a big fan of Ruth Ann Minner, but if this is how she runs things, good on her.

The guy was in prison, and not just for a first offense, but for violating parole. That means he got arrested, charged, convicted, and then basically didn't care enough to follow rules. Maybe prison needs to be this way.

Honestly, I could care less about you if you're in prison. It isn't supposed to be fun, easy or enjoyable. It's supposed to make you not want to come back. So if things like this happen, hey, don't break the law, and you won't have to worry about it.

Innocent people die every day, and yet you are worried about a felon like he is some kind of saint? I don't care what excuse you have for burglary, at 21, you don't need to do it. You can always find a job. McDonald's is always hiring, the military is always hiring, so they aren't excuses. Any one who pities this man, or anyone else in prison is sick.

J.G., Newark

They've gotten a lot of letters like that one ever since they published "Delaware's Deadly Prisons," a four-part investigative series on the inadequate medical care provided in Delaware's prisons, by reporters Esteban Parra and Lee Williams.

The attitude expressed in such letters is as popular as it is morally repugnant. This popularity is both dismaying and baffling. Letters like this express contempt for the Constitution as though such contempt were patriotic — as though the Bill of Rights were some kind of threat to the American way of life.

The gleeful depravity of such letters recalls the widespread "patriotic" defense of the abuse of detainees in Guantanamo and Baghram and Abu Ghraib. All this in a country where 9 out of 10 people say they believe in God.

I expect I'll have more to say on this later, but for now I'm still pretty much in the muttering and shaking my head phase. I expect stupidity and evil — that's human nature. But boastfully enthusiastic stupidity and evil sometimes leaves me at a loss for words.