Les Miserables vs Fortress

Fortress seems to draw alot from Les Mis (the version I've seen is this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077936/. I don't know how this compares to the original novel or other productions, but bare with me.)

Both heroes get a life-sentence (more-or-less) for a crime in their time which, by today's standards, is not a crime or justifiable in some way:
For Brennick, it's having a second child in a distopian near-future USA.
For Valjean, it's for stealing a loaf of bread to avoid starving to death in 19th century France.

Both villains (Poe / Javert) are villains not because they are diabolically evil, but because their situation puts them in opposition to the hero (namely managing the prisons). They themselves were sons of prisoners, who have seen little or nothing of the outside world. Despite being the villains, they are infact men of principle, it's just unfortunate for the heroes that these principles include absolute belief in the law, and that by breaking the law you forfeit all rights to be treated like a human being.

(I personally don't think of Poe or Javert as villains, but I couldn't think of a better word for the sake of this post.)

Any opinions?

Edited to correct some spelling.

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