China doesn’t count non-judicial punishment as incarceration, so there are lot more people forced into work camps for their behavior (or speech) than those numbers tell. Also, if you get caught stealing a wallet in say Shanghai, the victims friends are more likely to beat you up before the police arrive, with no penalty to them (I didn’t make up this example, I saw it for myself).

The problem with the USA’s prison system is that it doesn’t focus on rehabilitation at all and instead focuses on punishment. We get the exact results expected of such a system, which is a lot of repeat business.