"harsher prison conditions cause higher rates of post-release criminal behavior, behavior which is also measurably more violent."
This is why we can count on the problem getting worse. Prisons are profit centers, and the best way to increase profits is to increase crime. That's what prisons are really for.
Regarding Abu Ghraib, I remember reading a statement by Sy Hersch (sp?) to the effect that most of the info that he had uncovered about the scandal remained secret, and the worst thing about it was 'the screams of the children being raped while their parents were being interrogated."
I was on a grand jury once, and our counsel was an Assistant Deputy District Attorney, who eagerly supported the criminal justice system. A chance comment he made revealed to me that he had smoked pot, at the time illegal. I knew he lived to convict pot smokers, so I asked him how he could sleep at night.
He said, "I sleep in a big, comfortable, expensive bed." and smirked.
This is the enemy.