Yes, There Are Criminal Justice Systems Worse Than The U.S.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.  But, as bad as the American criminal justice system may be, there are places that are worse.

* The Philippines has shockingly crowded and understaffed jails, de facto run by prison gangs, and stunning long delays in the judicial process.  The CNN story linked highlights a jail with 20 guards that houses 4000 inmates, some of whom have been awaiting verdicts on the charges against them for as long as 16 years, where about three-quarters of inmates for affiliated with four major gangs.  Some of the crowding is caused by new war on drug policies there.  About 60% of inmates in the featured jail were drug offenders.

* Indonesia regularly executes people for drug offenses.

* Saudi Arabia and Iran both have versions of Islamic criminal justice in which executions are very common and the process is systemically unfair, especially to women.