You're not too familiar with prison, I guess.

By and large, I would expect inmates to choose the closest prison to their family, regardless of quality metrics. What good does it do to know that some prison 2000 miles away has a really good meal program?

Which state is 2000 miles in size? This article is about state prisons.

Yes, they are?

Considering most inmates do not have access to the internet, do you expect the state to publish these stats in good faith? Inmates to trust them? Or do they just subscribe to print editions of The New York Times?

I guess I'm not sure if you're speaking in hypothetical or talking about inmates today. As the article is on California I'm assuming we're both discussing USA.

Inmates today. They talk and information spreads very quickly into prisons via family members and other visitors.