You'll find that crimes such as rape, murder, theft, fraud, rarely generate more than a few years of jail time for the criminals in all but the most egregious cases. There are some criminals that are favored for early release, and others who are not. Unfortunately, our society has established it's boundaries of acceptable behavior, and this case reflects that. Marie Mason will probably be denied parole, due to the fact that people like her are a bigger threat – not to you or I or the community, but to the system – than the most prolific child rapist or serial killer out there. Druggies, murderers and rapists (being likely to return to crime) provide the cash flow – Marie is in it to win it.

Second, this was done to a university. A university with students. Young adults, just barely not kids. This was not done to a huge ‘evil’ uncaring megacorporation.

I was supportive of your article until I read it is about people setting fire to a school. I could even see myself protesting in-person against a large prison sentence for non-violent civil disobedience like staging a sit-in. But setting fire to a school, no.

It is hard to take an article seriously when it supports people setting fire to a school. If you had even included a condemnation of their actions (setting fire to a SCHOOL), while complaining about the over-large prison sentence, that might have worked. But this article does not include that. Without that, I cannot come to the conclusion that you are a rational person and able to discern between appropriate actions.

Maybe I should point this out again: SETTING FIRE TO A SCHOOL.