The context of the stabbing is that stabbings happen pretty regularly and not necessarily with some kind of resonant reason, but because our prison system is built to spend as little money as possible, is punitive such that “what prisoners do to one another is part of the punishment” is seen as normal and not a deliberate design choice, and any particular act of violence is contextualized by the physical and psychological environment that’s going to generate stress and trauma such that violence is an entirely anticipate-able outcome.

Speculating whether this stabbing has individual, moralistic implications—that it was punishment—is just stepping over that all prison stabbings occur within a framework that would prefer you view all the suffering of prisoners as part of their punishment.

You know, that it’s not cruel or unusual, just the cost of doing business.