I think there's a cynical way to read this I think crucial passage here. When they say but as time goes by they begin to realize that even if the child could be released it would not get much good of its freedom. It is too degraded and imbecile to know any real joy indeed after so long. They don't know they're speculating about what would happen if you freed it, especially when they say it would probably be wretched without like having its own excrement to sit in. But I want to know because the rest of the paragraph also strikes me as bullshit in a slightly more subtle way.