We may have difficulties in understanding the ancient world that did not have prison sentences or public wellfare systems. Prisons were places where the captured were waiting for judgement; the judgement was either killing, release or a payment that could be transformed to forced labour (slavery) if the person could not pay.
Even after Christianity started to change the attitudes and laws, the wellfare system of orphans was often based on selling the child in auctions to the person who demanded the least amount of money for taking care of the child. Although the basic purpose was good and many children got a decent home, the children were often used as cheap workers with harsh treatment - physical violence was an accepted and expected disciplinary method in the society. He who did not beat his children did not love them - that seemed to be the underlying message. Here (Finland), the last auction of orphans happened crudely a century ago and physical punishment in schools ended about 60 years ago. Physical punishment of children were forbidden by law in the year 1984, as the second nation in the world. Until that day some form of physical punishment was ordinary in families and many families did not like the ‘too liberal’ law.
Compared to the standards of the ancient societies, slavery was not exceptionally bad although the treatment of the slaves could be really bad.