Now why don’t we hear from the person he murdered: what it’s like to have your entire existence and future stolen from you. Compared to that, four years in solitary is minor.
Even if you for some reason accept the cruel punishment, you should also consider that they may move in as your neighbour when they are released. Don't you think that the mental state may cause more problems than if they were treated humanely?
76% of US prisoners are re-arrested within five years, which is higher than many other countries. Think of how many victims could be saved if the prisons were more focused on rehabilitation than punishment?
Would it be fair to be tortured? The punishment needs to be proportional with the crime but you probably don't want to transform good people that made a mistake into bad/destroyed people so when then sentence is over instead of releasing that good person you release a new criminal you created and trained in your prison.
While I have a strong will to live (without which I wouldn't be here) the mere fact of dying is not that big of a deal. You're going to die, just as surely as a piece of string has two ends. The notion of life going on indefinitely is not much different from the infantile or drug-induced difficulty in distinguishing between oneself and one's environment. Indeed, being conscious of this fact is the easiest way to appreciate the social-temporal context within which you exist and to some extent see your life from the outside, rather than just down the barrel of your personal future.
It's horrible when someone dies, but it's not obvious that the person responsible should endure any punishment. Where does your reasoning end? How far should it stretch? For how long after his punishment should he get judged? How are you to judge that four years of torment is minor, have you done it yourself?
Boiling his 19 years in prison down to this comment is appaling. Where's your humanity?
Any judgement of this without knowing the details is misinformed.
When a person goes to prison they may also be leaving a family who are now unable to meet their needs. Harsher penalties might mean that person is unable to provide for their family for longer.