I know few people who are now in prison. In my POV they deserve it. All went with me to school and have tortured me in school pretty badly.
However..... I think that it is on me/society to show reasonable amount of grace and mercy. It is not about them but about me. I don't want ever again have any contact with this people, but I don't want them dead or for that matter tortured.
And in russian there is a nice proverb that makes me feel a lot less judgmental towards prisoners/people on social security.....
"don't count out a prison cell, a begging bowl may come as well"=
"от тюрьмы да от сумы не зарекайся"
This Russian idiom means that you never can tell if you happen to go to jail or if you become a beggar. The deep meaning is that you might be a good person and do all right things, however life is not just exactly fair
and you never know what will happen to you. Even the deeper implication is that probably you should not look down at people in jail or at beggars - who knows, you might be among them some day...
Although I am kind of respectable contributing member of the society, I don't commit any crimes or so, but I truly feel that I am just one step away from prison. I feel that anything material I have can just disappear tomorrow. I feel that I am very close to the absolute bottom of the society.