I'd go as far as to say that prisons are a profitable business, and if the prison operators or their cronies can convince the masses that stuffing prisons to th

I'd go as far as to say that prisons are a profitable business, and if the prison operators or their cronies can convince the masses that stuffing prisons to the brim is a good idea, that's just more profitable business. I don't think the prison industry or upper class are cruel for cruelty's sake. The American Conservatism is simply convenient to them. I'd go as far as to say that even voters who appear to embrace being cruel to prisoners aren't deliberately trying to be cruel, but are by and large the disenfranchised poor people with zero upward mobility, whose miserable existence is made slightly more bearable by having a class with even fewer privileges than them.