justifiable homicide?

this story appalls me.

it's not because a murderer was killed the day after he murdered a cop.

what frightens and disgusts me is that the inmate was killed while in prison, in solitary confinement, while only guards and prison personnel had access to him.

when i read the article this morning, stating that the death of the inmate had been ruled as a homicide, i was shocked at how nonchalantly the story seemed to have been written, as if it's not suspect and shady that a cop-killing inmate is found with his neck broken alone in his cell.

now, i'm not arguing that the guy's life is precious and he didn't deserve to die, nor am i arguing against that. while i do not believe it is within my right, under most circumstances, to decide whether or not someone lives or dies, i do believe in reaping what we sow and that those who live by the sword die by the sword. when one takes it upon himself to coldly murder another, as this guy did to that cop, then when murder comes back to find us, who can we blame but ourselves? he reaped what he had sown. demons are real and when we dance in the devil's territory (and murder is one of his domains) then we should not be shocked when the devil comes for us. his job is to kill, steal and destroy, and he's quite good at them all.

but what appalls me is that this guy was killed while in police custody. WHO else could have killed him but an officer? no one else had access to him, as he was in solitary confinement.

i know that killing a police officer is the ultimate no-no in the brotherhood of cops. and i will boldly say that i'm almost certain that a cop killed that man - although of course a fellow inmate could have somehow escaped his cell, sneaked into the high-security solitary confinement ward, unlocked the guy's cell, snapped his neck, locked his cell back, then tiptoed back to his own cell as if nothing happened. that could easily have been the case.

why do i get the feeling that this inmate's murder will go uninvestigated and end up in the unsolved mysteries/cold cases box?

what gives cops the freedom to avenge the death of one of their own, protected by codes of silence? if someone killed my friend, and i went and then killed his/her killer, i'd be in jail in a heartbeat for first-degree murder. no one would say i had the right and it was understandable. no one would defend my actions. i'd be a murderer.

when i think about the corruption that is everywhere, the silence kept, the secrets swept under rugs in law enforcement, government and elsewhere, it is sickeningly unsettling.

this world is done.