Compare to places that actually care about reform, like Norway.
There seems to be a general trend of "US inverse exceptionalism", i.e. arguing that the US is a uniquely bad country on the basis of very weak evidence. People complain a lot about systems in the US, but if you look at international comparisons, the US doesn't usually look too bad. Here in this thread people are up in arms because... 1/3 of Texas prisons have A/C, and the remainder have non-AC heat control measures. I doubt this is substantially different from non-US prisons.
The difference is probably the degree of abuse and cruelty.
Also, the U.S. seems to claim to be a civilised society, so it would make sense to compare its facilities (including prisons) with those in other "civilised" societies. When you do that kind of comparison, you may be shocked to discover that U.S. prisons are amongst the worst.
It is also bad because of its brutal prison system, but it is not the most brutal by any means. For a democracy that purports to be a civilized developed country, on the other hand, it is pretty high up on the list.
Personally, if I somehow magically found myself on a US jury, I'd find it morally really hard to convict even in the case of an open and shut case due to the inhumane US prison system.