We can't keep track of all the articles and commentary coming out about prisoner abuse in the U.S. since the Abu Ghraib photos . Here's one that caught our attention, about the Los Angeles County Jail:

I don't mean to diminish the suffering and humiliation of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but they're lucky they weren't locked up in L.A. County Jail. Five inmates have been murdered in downtown L.A. detention facilities since October. In one case, an accused murderer managed to leave his cell and wander around like he owned the place. I don't know if guards were watching "Survivor," making popcorn, or playing Parcheesi. But this inmate roamed the killing fields for hours until he eventually tracked down a witness against him — a witness who was supposed to be enjoying the benefits of protective custody.

This LA Times Editorial calls jail security an oxymoron:

Twenty-three-year-old Santiago Pineda allegedly was able to sneak out of his cell in the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail last month and strangle another inmate partly because, county officials said, he possessed the diabolical mind and skills of a Hannibal Lecter. However, Pineda's success in allegedly finding and killing Raul Tinajero — who testified last month that he saw Pineda drive his car over another man last year — illustrates profound problems in the county jail system, from lax rules and inadequate guard training to archaic inmate tracking systems.