One additional piece of information seems important though. The US has a prison population of 756 per 100,000 inhabitants. France has 85 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. (that's according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison#Population_statistics)
Of course that says nothing about how bad the prisons are. But it probably does say something about the quality of the justice system as a whole.
Of course that says nothing about how bad the prisons are. But it probably does say something about the quality of the justice system as a whole.