The US is uniquely bad because of its dramatically higher number of incarceration - one of the highest per capita in the world, only beaten by El Salvardor, Cuba, Rwanda, and Turkmenistan. If those are the kind of countries you're content to be compared to... Yikes.

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.