The chemist did something horrible and I am not trying to justify her actions. But I think that the true culprit of this is the system of incentives typical for

The chemist did something horrible and I am not trying to justify her actions. But I think that the true culprit of this is the system of incentives typical for US penal system. If the prosecutors are rewarded based on the number of convictions and prisons can be privately owned and prisoners can be exploited for private gain... something like this is inevitable. If sending people to prison is profitable business there is always going to be someone who decides to expand their 'business' by making sure as many people as possible get sent to prison no matter whether they are guilty or not.