About 0.71% of the US population is incarcerated. It's much, much, higher than any other nation. But, still low enough that it doesn't get much attention from voters....even if they turned out in record numbers.

Media attention might make a bigger impact. I'm not sure the general public knows how bad the system is. Even if you're a "punishment" fan, the system is cranking out people that are more likely to commit further crime, since they have little chance to support themselves in a legal way.

Also, the loss of voting rights for people with felonies[1] means that the most likely to feel strongly on this issue are also ones that can’t express that opinion via voting.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement#In...

Let's not forget the substantial chunk of voters who want the system to be as brutal as possible.

Especially when the prisoners are minorities, who are easily dehumanized as evil "others".

Turnout is abysmal because so many people believe the system is rigged, and to some extent they're correct.