What I object to (and always have) is not that some inmates get kept in longer and some shorter but that the sentences, like everything else, are totally controlled by the media. Thus a high profile "good story" (like Myra Hindley) gets kept in for far longer than another woman who killed many more but got less publicity. Justice should not depend on the size of headlines. And it will get worse with Twitter, Facebook etc - the most vociferous shouters are the least sensible and reasonable people considering complex solutions tend not to scream in 140 characters.