There are two key criteria for evaluating national incarceration policy: 1) the number of citizens that are incarcerated in a nation, and 2) the treatment of those prisoners. US incarceration rates — the highest in the modern world — and their causes, are thoroughly explored in “Dismantling the Prisonhouse of Nations: A Socialist Prison Reform Proposal”. http://combatingglobalization.com/articles/dismantling_the_prisonhouse_of_nations.html
The present article focuses on the treatment of prisoners in the USA.