Not only. I live in France and while it's always difficult to really grasp public opinion, I'm pretty sure a large proportion of my fellow citizens thinks our prison aren't cruel enough. Actually, according to some poll, a majority even wishes death penalty were reinstated. Not quite the same thing, but still...

Only because we only ever talk about "Criminals" and "Prisoners" or "Offenders". Never by name, always by number. We dehumanize them and the system has been ignored because of it.