Just three days after the Hollywood heiress Paris Hilton started her supposedly 23-day prison sentence for driving on a suspended licence, she was back at home, tucked up in the safety and comfort of her own bed.
The reason for Hilton's early release, so the national newspapers inform me: she was depressed and distraught, and possibly suicidal. She is now confined to her mansion instead of a cell the size of her walk-in wardrobe in the special needs unit of the Century Regional Detention Facility in Los Angeles.
In 2004, 14-year-old Adam Rickwood became the youngest child in the UK to die in custody. A jury last week returned a suicide verdict on Adam, who had a known history of self-harm. When he showed signs of distress on the day he died, Adam was not offered the chance to return to his family home over 100 miles away in Burnley; he was forcibly restrained.
Fair? I don't think so.