It taught me that an incarcerated man can commit spontaneous rape, and that Christopher Meloni can turn anyone gay.

Seriously though, I'm pretty sure the show was blatantly hammering the old ineffective prison system chestnut. Ironically, by depicting the utter failure of a progressive, rehabilitative correctional facility (Emerald City), it seemed to argue that there is no solution or viable alternative to the problems American prisoners and prisons face. That's the message I got.