We've devolved into the mathematics of what people want for sentencing when they know they're going to be convicted.
I've had clients who had previously been in reformatory say, “Please get me a penitentiary sentence”, which is one day more, or “Please, I want to go a certain area.” These are what I would describe as generally ineffectual manipulations of the system. I say “ineffectual” because they're still going to be serving a sentence. Yes, the federal system has fast-tracks for first offenders in non-violent crimes. Yes, it's sometimes harder to get provincial than federal parole. That's not always the case, though, as I keep cautioning my clients. They may be thinking that this is what they're hearing, but it's not necessarily what is in fact going on.
For example, just as a general observation, federal parole has tightened up significantly in the past 10 years or so. They'll talk—they think they're jailhouse lawyers—but they may not be correct.