> your narrow focus on the federal Constitution ignores the fact that it is neither a source of nor a limit on most of the law we deal with, which is state (legislative) law or state administrative law.
That's starkly illustrated here. Just do the math:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/press/fjs09pr.cfm
At year end 2009, 393,810 persons were under some form of federal supervision. Of these, 62 percent were in secure confinement and 38 percent were in the community.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2232
The [total] U.S. prison population grew at its slowest rate (0.2%) since 2000, reaching 1,613,740 prisoners at year end 2009.