DeeJay,
While I understand that your experience in Utah prisons may be in an upper standard, this is not the case throughout the US. Most of the prisons in this country have poor health care, uneatable food, and few "amenities".
Prison is a business, therefore; the bottom line is going to be making a profit. Many states are cutting prison food budgets - some even going to two meals a day on weekends and holidays. Most of the food is not worthy of human consumption. Food is also used to manipulate and to punish. The law says that prisoners need to be fed, but the definition of that gets worse as time goes on because of food cuts and as fewer Americans care or are part of active reform groups that will intervene.
Cutting food costs means that food is usually in slop form, lacking taste and substance. What is put in it is questionable. Substandard ingredients are also used - like grade B meats - perhaps most Americans have no clue what this means. Nor is cleanliness an issue - again state laws are a necessity, but after all, it doesn't really matter - prisoners are not real people. I don't suppose I should mention the cockroach issue.
If a prisoner has an outside source of money - say a relative or friend can send in a few bucks -they can always buy food and other items from the commissary. Unfortunately, commissaries are prison run to make a profit. Prices go up regularly and items usually cost more than on the street. Many prisons are no longer allowing incoming food or clothing packages. Everything has to be bought through the commissary at very high prices.
Stamps and envelopes and also are stopped from coming in - another control measure to keep prisoners from being able to communicate with family and friends. Although some have jobs in prison, many do not - salaries [40 hrs a week] for the MONTH range from $16 - $25 as a general rule, some states are higher. I know that Texas does not pay workers, but work is done in exchange for good time off their sentence. Some states are now cutting back on providing stamps - from 8 per month to 2 and no more free envelopes. To you and I a stamp or an envelope is nothing, but to someone who has no income they are like gold. And so trades, gambling, and favors are done in exchange for items that are needed.
Health care is another huge problem. Often, doctors who are unlicensed are providing health care. Many prisoners are also charged a fee for all health care which is added to an account. Any incoming monies to them for clothing, hygiene or food is taken and applied to their account. Also fines are also on account, and the prisoner never receives a dime for incoming funds as it is all applied to the outstanding account. Again, this is a control measure to keep prisoners either angry or driven into further depression.
Another control tactic is lockdown. Where prisoners are kept in their cells for 23/7 from 1 week to 6 months. They are only allowed to leave for a shower 2-3 times a week and for 1 hr a day for some type of supervised activity - like outside rec. Lockdown usually means that your cell is torn apart [literally] to look for contraband - personal items are dumped and pawed through with zero respect for property. Often times items are broken or destroyed in the process.
For punishment, prisoners are place in the "hole". Again this is 23/7 from 30 days to a year or more. Typically 60-90 days. No communication is allowed. They are fed through a slot. They are allowed out 1 hr a day. Showers are 2-3 times a week - nothing is provided but a bar of soap [hotel size to last for a week]. No reading material or personal possessions are allowed except paper, a Bible, and address book - sometimes other reading material, but that is rare - pens and pencils are not allowed - they are given a very stubby flexible pen - like writing with an ink refill, but half that size. Punishment is not just for major altercations but for extremely minor ones. Sometimes mail is not allowed to be delivered, except for newsletters, but no personal letters. This seems to be rare, but does occur.
Most prisoners do not receive any mail, ever. Mail call is the highlight of prison life and is preceived as the highest form of personal encouragement. Mail room rules regarding incoming mail is a joke. Some prisons will not allow an envelope to come in that is over 1 oz. That mail is rejected and the prisoner is usually responsible for mailing it back to the sender. Rules are changed on a whim. What was allowed one day will be sent back the next. Sometimes if an envelope has too many pages, the prisoner will be forced to send it back so it can be divided and sent again with the correct count per envelope. Some evelopes will be rejected because white out was used, or if an address label is used, or if a specific pen is used that is against the rules. Every prison is different - even within each state - there is no common ground on incoming mail and it is mostly at the discretion of the inspector. Nothing can be sent in by envelope other than paper items.
Many prisons do not provide hygiene items other than a bar of soap. No comb, shampoo, toothbrush, or toothpaste. A razor is usually a community one. These items must be purchased through the commissary. This kind of treatment is more common in DR or lifers, than in lesser max facilities, but does exist outside of that venue as well.
Unless you have had specific contact or have visited multiple prisons in every area of the USA, it is unfair to say that prisoners are getting humane treatment in every prison. There are enough articles in every media that has examined, researched, and exposed the travesity that is occurring in the prisons in America - and I did not even touch the tortures, abuse, molestation, and rapes, beatings, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual abuse that is common place behind the walls.
maybe not for you [although I am told that guards make a nice healthy salary] but there is money to be had and lots of it. prison is big business - you just may not see that side of it, but think about it and compare it to a game of dominoes 
