Sometimes, you got to wonder...

Doubtless, no one is surprised that liberals are complaining about police treatment of RNC protestors who have been arrested for various charges, ranging from non-violent misdemeanors to more serious crimes like assault. And it is not surprising, further, that the NYT is prominently trumpeting these claims. But can someone please explain this sentence to me?

"Several [prisoners] said they had contracted rashes from sleeping on the pier's floor, had gone hours without food and were given a Dixie cup to use to drink water."

Ok, I get the complaint about sleeping on the floor (and rashes are no fun, either). I can even understand the complaint about going "hours" without food or water - though most of us do this every day between meal (and snack) times. But can anyone tell me what the problems are with drinking water from a Dixie cup? Does the Geneva Convention or the NY State Penal Code have some sort of "fine china or crystal glassware" provision of which I am unaware?

Not exactly the naked pyramid recently popularized by US military forces - or, for that matter, the beheading and slaughter of civilians popular now among Islamist enemies of the US. But I suppose the Times (and the ACLU and the lawyers, etc.) have to work with what they have. Apparently, not much.