As an adult I understand that this isn't the point of the story, and the police-and-prisoners aspect of the story is completely extraneous to the point trying to be made. Still, I can't help but think that the police-and-prisoners is a bad example of the broader point, since there's always a third set of interests (that of the police, and of society in general) which is callously (and immorally) tossed aside in the phrasing of the problem.