Bob Herbert in the NYTimes had a piece about similar mistreatment of prisoners in the U.S. in Dooly, Georgia, specifically.

He notes changes in our laws to allow this.

Here's what I was able to retrieve from the archives without paying to read the entire piece (which I can't afford to do) -

EDITORIAL DESK | May 31, 2004, Monday
America's Abu Ghraibs

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 812 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 17 , Column 1
DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 812 WORDS - Most Americans were shocked by the sadistic treatment of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. But we shouldn't have been. Not only are inmates at prisons in the U.S. frequently subjected to similarly grotesque treatment, but Congress passed a law in 1996 to ensure that in most cases they...

According to the article, the prisoners from Georgia went to court over the abuses they suffered, but lost the case because according to the new law Herbert cites in his article, abuses short of major medical damage are not actionable.