Why not? It's okay and morally responsible to imprison some people and not others. Child molesters, rapists, and murderers are among the worst people, we label them as bad people - child molesters, rapists, and murderers - and it is okay and morally responsible to imprison them, whereas it is not okay and morally responsible to imprison other people who are not child molesters, rapists, murderers, or other types of felons.You can't start saying it is okay to torture some people but not others. When it starts to be okay to torture even the worst people then it is okay to torture anyone as long as you can try and label them as bad people.
It's okay and morally responsible to kill some people and not others. For example, it's okay and morally responsible for me or the police to kill the bad guy who enters my home intent on killing me and raping my wife. We label such people as bad people: attempted murderers and attempted rapists.
This statement is a red herring argument. For thousands of years, humanity has drawn lines between the innocent and the guilty; among the guilty, humanity has also drawn lines between the heinous, the more heinous, and the less heinous. The man cited for jaywalking is distinguished from the man imprisoned for murder. Humanity has drawn such lines for thousands of years, we currently draw such lines every day, and there's no reason we cannot continue to do so.When it starts to be okay to torture even the worst people then it is okay to torture anyone as long as you can try and label them as bad people.