The two important questions that Alma the younger asks about those who were in bondage and repented are: “were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed?” The reason those questions are important is because they are part of the specific Nephite understanding of the law of Moses. These are not questions rooted in the law of Moses, but rather in the gospel of the coming Messiah. One of the major aspects of Nephite apostasy was to reject the coming Messiah and propose a return to living the law of Moses exclusively, even though that was likely altered somewhat as well.
This becomes very clear in verse 11 when Alma the younger mentions his father’s conversion upon hearing Abinadi. Abinadi’s discourse before Noah’s priests was heavily weighted to teaching about the coming Messiah, which had fallen out of favor in the religion practiced by Noah’s priests.
This suggests that one of the aspects of the general social move to inequality was accompanied by a rejection of the uniquely Nephite belief in the coming Messiah. For that reason, it was important for Alma to emphasize it.