In the Prince George County jail, Ronnie White, 19, who was being held in solitary confinement at Prince George’s County Correctional Center the died of strangulation and asphyxiation — meaning someone strangled him to death — but he also had two broken bones in his neck, according to autopsy findings. When a person is in solitary confinement, access is restricted, and only a few guards have access to the prisoners. In this case, no one knows what happened. Supposedly.

A few hundred miles north, in Brooklyn, New York — the bastion of manners and friendliness, to be sure — a woman died on the floor of the Kings County Hospital emergency room on June 19, 2008, after she keeled over and fell out out of her chair, landing face down on the floor. She thrashed about on the floor for awhile, then became still, emergency room video shows. In this case, no one, including other patients and people in the emergency room, including what appears to be another woman who was siting across from the 49-year-old deceased woman, did anything to help the woman — even after she collapsed to the floor.

In Missouri Illinois, a young guy, named Nicholas Sheley, 28, is being sought as a "person of interest" in the murders of at least several people. Police are wondering if the murders are the work of a serial killer.

In the case of Ronnie White, it’s a little hard to feel too sympathetic for his death. He was being held in connection with the death of Prince George’s County police Cpl. Richard Findley, who died Friday after being struck by a truck. Law enforcement authorities believe White was driving the truck, which is believed to have been stolen. At the time Findley was struck, police were attempting to flag down the truck.

Prince George’s County’s Chief Executive Jack Johnson summed the death of White, the prisoner, very well. He said:

"The killing of the officer is absolutely abhorrent, but also, Mr. White was presumed innocent and deserved his day in court just like any other citizens. We live in a constitutional democracy, and no one has the right to be judge and jury."

The FBI’s Baltimore field office has opened a civil rights investigation into White’s death, and the U.S. Department of Justice has told several media outlets it is monitoring the case, though it is not involved or taking any action at this point.

As to the death of the 49-year-old woman in the emergency room, lawyers have filed a lawsuit, alleging neglect and abuse of mental health patients at the facility.

Looking at the sick mind of someone on a rampage, killing people for thrills or whatever other sick, twisted, and demented reason, is well, simply sick, twisted, and demented.

Not one of these cases is new or unheard of in today’s society. When look these three cases, the big question to ask is if society has become numb to the pain and suffering of others.

In fact, I asked this very question just a few days ago, in my post, [1] Do today’s teens not value life?, from June 28. It deals with an eighth-grade student in Texas who allegedly murdered her newborn son just minutes after his birth by shoving wads of toilet paper in his mouth — evidently to gag and suffocate him, as well as to squelch any sounds of his crying, as he had already cried at least once, the infant’s autopsy revealed.

Has society become so cold, so callous, that murder, death, and, not caring about the health and welfare of others — when you are not in any danger — has become a social norm?