Dante, of course, didn't literally believe that hell was structured the way he depicts it in The Inferno. Nor was his depiction of punishment for sins like lust, usury, and murder in any official way taught by the Medieval Church. Dante was getting at something deeper by using literary tools, and an interesting bit of help on what Dante was up to comes from the Russian novelist Dostoevsky.
Here is a passage from "The Brothers Karamazov" . Though there are some variations between Dostoevsky's Russian Orthodox Background and Dante's Medieval Catholic background, both literary artists put their finger on a truth all Christians can accept: hell is in a sense self-chosen. God does not send one to hell, but one sends him- or herself to hell.